Weaknesses
by zeburilla
Summary: Everybody has their flaws and weaknesses, even geniuses. When their weak points are exploited, Scorpion must rush to hide their weaknesses and uncover the enemies trying to expose them - before it becomes too late. Waige, with some occasional bits of Quintis.
1. Chapter 1

_This is my first ever fan fiction! I'm super excited. This chapter is kind of short but I will be posting frequently._

_Please enjoy and review!_

_Disclaimer: I don't own Scorpion._

Walter O'Brien had just finished eating his breakfast when he plopped down in front of his laptop. He took a small sip from his boiling hot coffee before siting it on the desk.

Walter flipped the laptop open. It booted up quickly, since the geniuses owned the latest technology. His backdrop forced a little smile out of him. It was a picture of Scorpion's Christmas gathering. Paige had pressured the group into letting her take a big family photo, as she had called it. All of the geniuses disliked posing for cameras and were reluctant to agree, but after Paige emailed the picture to each of them, Walter knew for a fact that he was far from being the only one with it as a back drop.

In the photo he was standing next to Paige, his hand on Ralph's shoulder. Ralph was nestled in between the two of them. Both him and Walter beamed at the camera. Walter had a wide smile that he had spent years perfecting and modeling, trying to make his smile look 'normal'. But Paige wasn't even looking at the camera, which was strange, since she wanted the photo so bad. She had her face turned to look at Walter. There was a strange expression on her face that Walter could never completely understand, no matter how much time he spent looking at it (and he had spent a lot). She smiled, and though it was not as polished, or as big, as the smile on Walters face, it was incredibly real. So real that just looking at it had caused Walter to smile widely.

Walter tried to break away from his trance. He had spent too many mornings trying to analyze Paige's expression in the photo. Today, he was planning on doing more research on MS to help Megan, but first checked his email. He would be hesitant to work on an assignment that wasn't from Cabe Gallo after what happened in Vegas, but it never hurt to check. He noticed a strange email, with an unfamiliar address. The subject was simply 'Walter'. He opened it to find it was coated from top to bottom in numbers.

To the untrained eye, those numbers seemed random, but Walter's 197 IQ perked up as he scrolled through the numbers and he immediately noticed something. After fiddling mentally with the vague, complicated pattern, he discovered something. An equation, half solved, encrypted cleverly into the thousands of digits before his eyes. The smile that Paige had inadvertently given Walter melted away like ice under fire. Walter wanted to solve it. Walter had to solve it. And so his descent had begun.

"Hey guys," Paige greeted everyone. She held subway bags on her arms and an exhausted smile on her face. "I've got lunch."

Everyone rushed to the table to start dig in. Paige handed Happy a napkin, trying subtly to point out the black grease that was streaked down her collar bone. The mechanic took the napkin, a ghost of a smile on her mouth. Paige recognized the appreciation and smiled.

Paige helped hand out each genius their subs, trying to start casual conversation by talking about Ralph, but Sylvester and Toby went a little rigid when she mentioned Drew. She knew that the two of them didn't like him, or trust him with ralph, but they knew she wasn't going to remind them again about how it was none of their business. Happy was silent through the entire painful and awkward discussion, eating silently.

"Where's Walter?" Paige asked once she noticed his neglected sandwich, still wrapped and sitting on the table.

"Working upstairs." Happy said before taking a massive bite out of her sandwich, finishing it off. Toby gawked at her, wondering how a tiny girl could stuff so much into her mouth.

Paige grabbed Walters sandwich and headed up the stairs. She saw Walter scribbling rapidly across a black board. Paige didn't even know Walter had a black board up there.

"Hey," Paige greeted him. She walked beside him to watch him work. "I'd ask what you're doing, but it would probably be easier to finish it than explain it to me." Paige offered the small joke as a bit of an experiment, not as unlike the ones Walter did as she thought. She was still hoping he would become more human.

Walter didn't respond at all, in fact he didn't even look at Paige. Paige frowned. Once, she would have thought that was rude, but now she knew that's how the geniuses worked. Unintentionally rude, because they didn't know any better. (Except for Toby who was intentionally rude quite frequently)

"I brought you lunch." Paige said. "Foot long teriyaki chicken? Extra lettuce." Walter still did nothing to show he even knew Paige was there. "I'll just put it on the table, then."

Paige walked down the stairs and walked up to the team that was still eating their subs at the dining table. "Do you know what's up with Walter? He seems pretty off."

Toby shrugged. "Maybe it's his sister, or he's working, or..." Toby's voice trailed off as his eyes wandered away from Paige's.

Paige sighed. "I don't think Walter cares that much about Drew, Toby."

Toby raised his eyebrows. "I disagree, but he understands that the time to be expressive about that particular mess has passed, so that's probably not it. What seemed off about him?"

"I don't know, he wouldn't even acknowledge I was there when I was talking to him. It was like he didn't even hear me."

Sylvester and Happy exchanged looks. "What was he doing?" Sylvester asked nervously.

"Working on a black board." Paige said, frowning. The geniuses had quickly become more anxious. "What's wrong?"

"Not good, not good, not good." Sylvester muttered as the three of them ran up the stairs, leaving Paige on the bottom floor. She chased after them.

"Walter?" Happy called as they all approached him and his board.

"Oh no, it's that blackboard." Sly muttered.

"What's wrong with that?" Paige asked.

"He usually only pulls it out if he stressed, or extraordinarily concentrated on something." Sylvester wrung the bottom of his sweater in his hands while he spoke.

"Walter?" Toby stood right next to him. "Walter, what are you doing?"

Walter continued working, ignoring all of their presences. He looked like a robot. Any hint of emotion he had before had been drained out of him. Before, it had worried Paige slightly. But while he remained expressionless, surrounded by frantic geniuses, Paige watched the situation completely freaked out.

"Walter. You need to snap out of it, man. Have you even had breakfast?" Toby said loudly. He hauled his friend away from the board, forcing him to sit down in a chair. Sly handed him the sub.

Walter took the sub, but only held it in his hands. He was muttering quietly to himself.

"What's he saying?" Paige asked.

"It's just gibberish." Happy said, clearly growing more and more frustrated.

"Ok, what is going on?" Paige asked. Sly looked exceptionally nervous. Toby actually looked unsure of himself for once, and Happy just looked disappointed and more pissed off than usual.

"He's gone down the rabbit hole." Toby finally admitted.

_ Thanks for reading! Reviews are very appreciated. I am new to this, and I'd love any advice or input on my story and how to better it. _


	2. Chapter 2

_Thanks for the reviews! This chapter is a little bit longer, but it's still pretty short. I'll try to post longer chapters later on._

_ You might have noticed that the rating for this has change from M to T. I changed it because I had little bit of a panic attack when I tried to find the story and couldn't. I didn't realize that Fan Fiction automatically filters out M rated stories! (I'm really new to all this). So, since there is no violence until much later, I'm going to leave this story as T rated for now so that I can find it._

_Disclaimer: I do not own Scorpion.  
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**Chapter 2**

"Like down the rabbit hole down the rabbit hole? What Collins was talking about?" Paige asked, remembering their run in with Collins a few months ago. Paige had completely forgotten about him.

"Unfortunately, yes." Toby said. "I have no idea what could have triggered it… he hasn't been down in a while." Toby waved his arm in front of Walters face, receiving no response. "This has got to be the deepest he's ever been before."

"I can't do this." Happy announced, shaking her head. "I am not doing this." She headed towards the stairs, but Toby dashed in front of her, blocking her path.

"You can't go! We need to get him out." He exclaimed

"After we ran into Collins, I told Walter that if he went down the rabbit hole again I wasn't going to help him." Happy said angrily. "I warned him, but he went there anyways. I _might_ come back tomorrow." Happy stepped around Toby and jogged down the stairs.

"Way to give up on your friend, Happy!" Toby called.

Happy turned around, crisp anger masking her face fierce. "I'm the one who had to spoon feed him every day last time this happened. I'm sorry. I told him I wouldn't do this again. You guys can help for a change." With that, she left.

"What are we going to do?" Sylvester asked, more anxious than ever. Paige had been wondering the same thing. Toby just watched helplessly as Happy slammed the front door.

"Collins. It had to be him." Toby said. "Happy's wrong. If she told Walter she would leave if he went down again, no way would he go tampering around with the rabbit hole. He has no reason to. Walter didn't do this. Collins has to be behind this somehow, he could always drag Walter down the rabbit hole! Walter was doing too well, he had too many things at stake for this."

"How could Collins have had anything to do with this?" Paige said. "Isn't he in jail?"

"Sylvester, hack whatever you have to and get Collins jail records. Luckily Walter left his laptop open, so I'm going to see what he was looking at."

"Wait, Toby!" Sylvester yelled as Toby landed into Walter's seat. "What if you're right and Collins set something up for him? If it's on his laptop, and you see it, you'll go down with him."

"You're right." Toby stood up. "Paige, check Walter's Internet history, documents, files, email, anything you can find."

"I'll get to the jail records." Sylvester jogged down the stairs to his computer.

Paige began to scroll through Walter's internet history, but it was blank. She began flipping through his documents instead. "Give me the damn chalk, Walt." She heard Toby growl from behind her.

Paige turned to see Toby trying to yank the chalk out of Walter's hands. "Couldn't it be good to let him finish though? Then he can come out of the rabbit hole himself." Paige suggested.

"Once he finishes whatever he's working on, he'll move onto something else, something harder. Then he'll just be deeper in. It's better to pull him out before he gets in too deep." Toby finally pried the chalk out of Walter's hand, raising it triumphantly. "That's the problem with Walter when he gets down the rabbit hole. Completion usually ends it with the rest of us, but Walt just moves onto tougher things." Walter reached into the desk beside Paige and pulled out a box of chalk, and returned to his chalkboard with a fresh piece.

"Ah, come on!" Toby yelled, throwing his arms up in the air.

Paige returned to the laptop. She found nothing in Walter's documents that she could even understand, so she went into his email. She frowned at a strange email that had been left open. Paige scrolled through a long list of random numbers. There were so many, it looked like a very dark Jackson Pollock painting as the numbers whirred by.

"Toby," Paige called. Toby rushed to Paige to look over her shoulder, but quickly shielded his eyes.

"I can't look at it, but that has to be it. There must be a pattern in the numbers Walter noticed that sent him down. What's the address that sent it to him?"

"Checkmate18396284 ." Paige read the email name, frowning.

"It's got to be Collins. Numbers were always one of his obsessions. Click on it."

Paige clicked. "Are the numbers gone?" Toby asked.

"Yeah." Toby stood up and motioned for Paige to get up. He hacked into the email account quickly.

"You'll never guess who escaped from prison this morning!" Sly called out as he ran upstairs.

"I've had enough of runaway convict geniuses for the rest of my life." Toby muttered, banging on Walters keyboard. He finally stopped, standing up. "I've got it! Sly, get over here and check out this email address. It has to be Collins. I've got to call Happy."

Paige frowned at the coding script that covered the screen. It continued to write itself at a steady pace. "What does it mean?"

"It means that the email came from Russia, India, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Argentina and a few other places at the same time. It's untraceable, because the address is caught in a constant loop between those places. This had to be Collins."

Sly hit a few buttons, and the number filled email returned. Sly frowned deeply at it, before he quickly backed away, hands covering his eyes.

"It's not like it's Medusa, Sly. You're not going to turn to stone." Paige teased.

"Whatever message was behind the numbers sent Walter down the rabbit hole. If we figure it out, it could do the same to us." Sylvester said, refusing to uncover his eyes. Paige flipped the laptop around. Sly peeked, them straightened himself out, sighing in relief. "Thank you." He said.

Paige turned at the sound of the door opening. She went downstairs to see Toby, urgently speaking into the phone. Agent Gallo stood by the door.

"Paige. We've got a new case for you guys, but it's not one you're going to like." Sylvester walked up beside Paige. Gallo glanced at Toby who rubbed his temples, clearly frustrated as he listened to the telephone. "Where are the others?"

"Does the mission have anything to do with Collins recent escape to freedom?" Sylvester asked.

"That's confidential government information. How do you guys already know that?" Gallo said sternly. Sylvester shrunk visibly.

"He's already contacted us." Sly admitted.

"What did he say?" Cabe demanded.

"He sent an email to Walter." Paige said. The three of them jumped as they heard Toby slam the phone down. He joined them, rubbing his forehead.

"Where is Walter?" Cabe asked.

"Down the rabbit hole." Toby replied. "And Happy had the decency to just run out, and still won't be back until tomorrow."

"What do you mean he's down the rabbit hole?" Cabe asked. The others exchanged looks.

"Collins sent him an email with a hidden message or something. He read it, and it sent him down the hole. It's such a Collins move to pull… he waited until he was hardly a thought in our minds then exploited Walter's weakness."

"Where is he?"

They lead Cabe up to where Walter had almost completely marked the chalkboard white. Walter hardly blinked as he scribbled meaningless things across the board.

"Have you traced the email back?" Cabe asked.

"It keeps bouncing around. I've traced it to Japan, Russia, New Zealand... It adds a new place to bounce to every minute." Sylvester answered. "Collins was fast."

"He wants revenge. He might try to blow up another plant, get us all killed. As awful as it is to say, he wants Walter to die." Toby said.

Chills ran down Paige's spine. She could imagine Collins creeping up behind Walter while he worked, completely ignorant of the man standing behind him with a gun, or a knife, or a baseball bat. "What do we do?"

"We have to find Collins." Toby said.

"And get Walter out of the rabbit hole." Sly added.

"Which brings us back to our mission." Cabe said. "I know you guys have had enough convicts for now, but we have to check out Mark Collins prison cell. Figure out how he escaped."

"Without Walter?" Sly exclaimed.

"Yes, without Walter." Cabe responded harshly. "We'll need Happy first though."

"I know where she is." Toby said.

The team started down the stairs, but Paige glanced uncertainly at Walter. "Shouldn't we do something about him?"

The team was silent for a moment. "He'll be fine for now. He probably ate breakfast, so food won't be an issue." Sylvester said.

"But he might not be all the way down the hole yet." Toby added. "Can you stay and try to pull him out? If we try early enough, maybe he'll be willing to emerge."

Paige nodded and the team left. She recalled the time the team was with Collins. She had been confused about the rabbit hole, what it was, how the geniuses fell into them. She had spent quite some time since then worrying about Ralph, and if the same could happen to him.

She remembered going to Happy a few weeks ago. She had been nervous to ask the hot headed mechanic anything, really, but Happy was firm yet open.

"Toby rarely goes down the rabbit hole, but it's easy pulling him out. It's more like he fell into a ditch drunk and you got to get him back onto his feet." The young genius had been cranking away at some screws on the motorcycle, and finished up when she started to talk to Paige.

"Sylvester goes down deeper but it's more like he's swimming underwater. Once he's done, he comes up for air, and that's the end of it."

"Walter's rabbit hole is the worst of the bunch. He goes down, but pulling him out isn't just the problem. His hole is a labyrinth. You have to chase him down, then drag him out, but it's a maze down there. One wrong turn and you're back to square one."

Paige was determined to catch Walter before he ran deeper into the labyrinth.

_That's all for now. Your reviews are very much appreciated! Let me know if there's anything you think I can do to make this story better. Thanks for reading!_


	3. Chapter 3

_Thanks for the reviews! Please review more, I love reading them!_

_This chapter is another short one but I promise the next one is really long._

_Disclaimer: I don't own Scorpion._

**Chapter 3**

Paige tried everything. She started talking about Ralph, she waved food in front of his nose, threatened to break his laptop. It was brutal. Her hope and determination was chipped away with every failed attempt.

"Walter, Mark Collins broke out of jail. He escaped."

"Walter, you got another letter about Megan."

"Walter, Ralph wanted to know about Einstein, he's learning about him in class."

"Hey Walter, want to come see a fortune teller with me?"

The last thing was the only thing that got a remote response. Walter's nose wrinkled in disgust, but he otherwise remained ignorant. Paige sighed. This was useless.

She resorted to begging him to try and eat. She grabbed Walter's free hand and wrapped it around the sub, then struggled to lift it to his mouth, but he wouldn't do anything.

"Walter O'Brien, you better eat this damn sub." Paige said, frustrated. "I will throw all the chalk out the window if you don't, I swear to god." Walter remained response less, instead staring at the board, incredibly pensive.

"What are you even working on?" Paige asked, not expecting an answer. Most of what the geniuses did looked like none sense and this was no exception. There were Greek symbols, letters, numbers, acronyms... Paige had hated high school math and this looked like a nightmare to solve, even for a man with 197 IQ.

"What are you going to do if I erase it?" Paige asked herself. It was cruel, Paige knew. But three hours had passed uneventfully. How was Walter still standing? Paige had slumped down in Walters desk chair, trying to sooth her aching legs. She had to do something that would annoy Walter, make him act.

She grabbed the eraser and looked at Walter. "Sorry," she whispered, the dragged the eraser down the center of the board, smudging hours of dedication and work.

Walter froze.

Paige's heart caught in her throat. Would he lash out? Would he wake up? Paige hadn't been entirely convinced he would even notice the erased bit.

Walter stepped over to where the board Paige had erased the board. He replaced the blankness with the exact same things that had been erased, then continued working.

Paige groaned and fell back into the chair. "If this place was on fire, would you even notice?"

Walter, as expected, did not respond.

The team walked in about then. They quickly headed up the stairs to see Paige, an extremely grumpy looking Happy in tow. Paige thought they must have tracked her down and hauled her back. "How's he doing?" Sylvester asked.

"He's still oblivious." Paige said.

"Not surprising. You waking him up was a long shot." Toby said, walking up to his friend to inspect him. "He seems to be down pretty deep. Deeper than last time."

"What did you guys find out about Collins?" Paige asked, desperate to stop talking about Walter.

"The break was pretty clean. He bribed a guard. Used a lot of technology, then got onto a boat about twenty minutes before the email was sent to Walter." Sly said.

"Do you think you'll be able to catch him?" Paige asked.

"I'm going to trace the email again. Maybe knowing his breakout location will help." Sylvester said.

"I have to look up the boat." Toby announced. "Paige has to work with Walter and you," Toby turned to happy "have to look grumpy. You're knocking it out of the park, by the way."

Happy glared at him, but he was right. Her face was much darker than usual.

When Toby and Sylvester left to go downstairs, Paige cautiously walked up to Happy, who watched Walter intensely. "What's wrong?" she asked hesitantly.

Happy took a moment to respond. It seemed to be a struggle to pull her eyes from Walter so she could look at Paige. "The last time he did this, it was hell. On all of us, but especially me." Happy looked back to Walter, sheer disappointment coating her face.

"It wasn't his fault. He didn't mean to go down."

"I guess. It doesn't matter though, because he is down, and we're the ones who are going to have to deal with it. Do you want to have to force food down his throat? Lock him in a bedroom, just so he gets an hour of sleep? I had to cut his freaking hair once." Happy's voice got increasingly louder and agitated.

"Don't be mad at him. He messed up before, but all this is Collins. Focus your anger on him."

"I hate Collins." Happy muttered.

"That's the spirit." Paige said enthusiastically.

"If Collins has the power to just send us down, just like that..." Happy said. "We've got to find him soon. He wants nothing less than Walter's demise." Happy turned around and left.

Paige shivered involuntarily. She feared that Happy was right.

**/WEAKNESSES\**

Paige spent the rest of the day and most of the evening sitting by Walter and wrote out summaries of their last job report. Any hope she had that Walter would snap out of it dwindled more and more as the hours passed by.

Suddenly, he spoke; "Where's Ralph?"

Paige looked up to Walter, shocked. He stood in front of her, chalk still in his hands. His vacant eyes were trained on the floor.

"He's with Drew." Paige stammered. Was he trying to get out of the rabbit hole? She felt hope swell in her once again.

But it was short lived. A strange darkness passed over Walter's face when Paige mentioned Drew's name. He frowned deeply, creases forming across his forehead. He promptly left, returning to his beloved chalk board.

Paige stared at him for a few minutes, feeling depleted. Her mind returned to her conversation with Happy from weeks ago. Walter's rabbit hole was a labyrinth. Paige had finally caught him, but as she tried to haul him back to reality she took a wrong turn and Walter was gone. She was back to square one, just like Happy said, and Paige didn't even know how she had gotten Walter to talk in the first place. She was frustrated because her day had proven to be wasted. Walter was no closer to emerging from the rabbit hole than he had been this morning.

**/WEAKNESSES\**

When it was time to call it a night, Walter had only abandoned his work once to go to the bathroom. He didn't acknowledge Paige again since she had mentioned Drew. Paige resolved she would be cautious not to speak of Drew around Walter again until he was out of the rabbit hole.

Paige walked downstairs to see Sylvester was the only one still awake. It was pretty late, but Paige had called Drew earlier to grab Ralph and take him home.

"Will he go to sleep?" Paige asked.

"No. He doesn't think he needs it. He doesn't know he needs it." Sylvester scratched the back of his head. "Happy was pretty good at forcing it on him, last time, but she doesn't seem too eager to help. Walter made a lot of promises to us, especially to her, that he wouldn't go down again."

Paige nodded silently. "Are you going to head home?" Sylvester asked.

"Yeah, I have to get Ralph to bed. It's not the weekend just yet." Paige replied.

"Are you going to bring him by again soon? Last night I found a fun math riddle on the Internet I wanted to challenge him with." a sweet, goofy grin spread across his face as he spoke.

Paige smiled at the genius's kindness and clear adoration of her son. "I'd love to, but I don't know if he should see Walter like this."

Sly's face dropped, but he nodded anyhow. "Understandable. Maybe next time."

Paige said goodnight sadly. Walter was Ralph's idol. Paige knew that it could be destructive to Ralph's image of Walter if he saw him like that. Or, Ralph would think that it was alright and normal to go down to rabbit hole. He could follow his hero down the rabbit hole, into a land of unresponsiveness and desolation. Paige's stomach churned at the thought of Ralph in Walter's position. She resolved Ralph wouldn't return to the garage until he Walter was back to normal.

It was Paige's turn to get angry as she drove home. Paige's job had taken a quick unexpected turn from being part of a government contractor team to a babysitter. She couldn't bring Ralph to the garage anymore, which meant he wouldn't get to see Walter or any of the other geniuses. On top of all that, the murderous lunatic who had landed them all in this mess was on the prowl and likely planning to attack Walter soon. With her entire situation summarized like that, Paige was frustrated, because there was nothing she could do to help.

Paige had to remind herself of the advice she had given Happy. This wasn't Walter's fault, it was Collins'.

_That's all! I'm trying to figure out how often I should post. I've got a little bit of OCD when I write so I wouldn't let myself start posting until I was completely done writing the story... so I have all the chapters prepared but I don't know how often I should post... If you have any suggestions or comments on how often you want to see chapters for Weaknesses, put it in a review or message me! :)_


	4. Chapter 4

_This chapter is wayyy longer than the others, but I did promise a long chapter. I hope you guys like it all the same!_

_I included a bit of a Waige moment too for all of the Waige fans (I myself and one of them, so I understand the struggle of wanting more)_

_Disclaimer: I do not own Scorpion. I do not own it's characters, either. I simply interpret them._

**Chapter 4**

The next day Paige dropped Ralph of for school and headed straight upstairs when she reached the garage, eager to check on Walter. She was instantly disappointed when she saw his talking to himself still, chalk gliding across the black board. His clothes had changed and the familiar scent of his soap wafted to Paige's nose. It was good that he had showered. Happy had explained to her before that Walter is the kind of genius that can't stand being dirty, even when he's down the rabbit hole, so he would still shower and change his clothes daily. Though he was clean, dark bruises under his eyes hinted at a sleepless night.

"Oh, Walter." she sighed. "You've got to snap out of it."

Walter didn't acknowledge her. Paige wasn't even surprised. She sighed and headed down the stairs.

"Good morning!" Toby called as he shut the fridge door and poured a glass of milk for himself. "How is our all-powerful leader?"

Paige rolled her eyes at Toby's sarcasm. "That's hardly appropriate, Toby. Should I be giving him food or something?"

"Food he'll refuse, but he's got to be thirsty. You could probably force some water into him."

Paige smiled. "Thanks." she grabbed a glass and thrust it underneath the tap. "Any tips on pulling him out?"

Toby sighed. "With Walter, usually it's impossible to help him. He has to get to a place where he can accept help and get out. This is a Mark Collins Trip down the rabbit hole. He's down deep, and he has no intention of coming up for air any time soon."

"Great. So there's nothing I can do?"

"He needs to eat eventually. He needs to sleep. He needs his water," Toby gestured to the water in Paige's hand. "He needs support constantly because eventually he's going to be looking for a way to save himself, and he can't do it on his own." Toby grabbed his milk and left.

Paige thought about Toby's words, leaning against the fridge. Was that what happened yesterday when Walter asked her about Ralph? Paige had thought he was becoming more responsive when he spoke to her, completely uninitiated. It was Paige's job to help him out, and she hadn't done that. She'd let him slip further down, and the window of opportunity had long passed.

Paige scolded herself mentally as she trudged up the stairs. Toby had said it would be easier to pull Walter out yesterday, since he had just disappeared down the rabbit hole. Today there would probably be no opportunity to help Walter. He had burrowed himself deeper into his mind.

Paige walked up to the black board. "I brought you some water." the genius didn't reply, but he did mutter to himself. "Walter."

Paige rubbed her temples. She was one day in with Walter's ignorance and already she felt like she was at the end of her rope. "Walter!" she grabbed his hand and pulled the chalk out of it, hurling it at the floor. Walter watched as it burst into hundreds of white shards that scattered into different directions. His muttering stopped.

Paige placed the cup of water into his hand. He moved towards the table, ready to put it down, but Paige wasn't going to let him. She beat him to the table and sat on it.

Walter froze, frowning. It was strange to watch him, because Paige knew he was in his own strange world that was tucked away in his head, yet he could react to what was happening in reality. His eyes peered right through her as he processed her stubbornness.

"You can go back to your work once you drink all the water." Paige said, sounding like she was directing her own son and not her boss.

Walters frown deepened so that creases formed across his forehead. Paige crossed her arms. He turned around and started to walk to another table on the other side of the room, but Paige sprinted over and flipped the empty table upside down. She turned to face Walter, who had frozen again.

"Just drink the water." Paige pleaded.

Walter's eyes finally met hers, and Paige's heart skipped a beat. Had she finally gotten through to him? But he looked away, and bent over to set the water onto the ground, then returned to the black board without glancing behind him.

Paige grabbed the glass and stomped up to him. She pushed the black board away from him and put herself between the two. "Hey!" she yelled. "Do you think I'm doing this for me? No! It's for you! I didn't do anything to warrant you ignoring me. What's drinking a glass of water going to do, huh? Will it kill you to drink it?" Walter made a move to walk around Paige, but she just stepped right in front of him again. "I am talking to you! You're not getting back to your stupid black board until this glass is empty!"

Walter tried a few more times to walk around Paige, then finally he placed the glass to his lips and chugged the whole thing. Paige smiled. Clearly he was thirsty. He put the glass into her hands and returned to his board.

Paige felt spent but satisfied. She returned downstairs where everyone in the team was working quietly in separate parts of the garage. Except for Happy, of course, who was hammering something loudly.

"Do you think Cabe will come in today?" She asked Happy.

"Maybe." She began to beat whatever she was hammering again.

"Did you guys have any luck on the case?" Paige asked, hopefully.

"It's Mark Collins. We've already been beat. The only person who could give us any hope of being able to find him is upstairs in his own little coma." Happy said roughly. She returned to pounding the metal, clearly using it as an anger outlet.

"We are trying though." Toby said, waltzing over. "Mark escaped from prison to send Walter down the rabbit hole. My guess is that he's headed over here."

"Here?" Paige asked uncertainly.

Toby nodded. "He wanted the world to go up in flames right in front of Walter's eyes without him being able to do a single thing about it. But Collins had a weak point last time; he made the code to his tower of terror too easy. He's got another plan this time, a more flawless plan. One that will end Walter for good without having to rely on hack-able technology or crack-able pass codes."

"You think he's going to try to kill Walter?"

"I have no doubt about it. The matter is how. Mark sent Walter down the hole to subdue him, so he could go about his plan without being caught. He's exposed his weakness, but that's not enough. Collins with want more, and he's going to come here to get it."

"He wouldn't come here. He knows we're onto him, it would be like walking into a trap. He'll just find another reactor to blow up." Happy argued.

"No, Collins doesn't just want to kill Walter. He wants to torture him. He wants to find all his weak spots and exploit them ruthlessly, and him and Walter have the same weakness; the rabbit hole. Walter used it to get Collins committed, but now Collins is coming back. He's going to wake Walter up so that he's coherent enough to see his mistakes and understand what he did wrong, knowing there was nothing he could do to stop it. That's when Collins will finally feel he's gotten even. So he's got to come here." Toby had been mainly focussed on Happy during his entire explanation, which wasn't unusual since was almost always focussed on Happy. But when he looked at Paige, he frowned deeply.

"Are you alright?" Toby asked. Paige's face had wilted like a dying rose through the whole discussion as she once again imagined Collins creeping up behind an unsuspecting Walter, wielding a gun or a knife, or even a bat... The blood had rushed out of her cheeks and her hands, which trembled.

"You're going into shock," Toby said, putting his hand on her back and guiding her to the couch. He grabbed a blanket and wrapped it around her.

"I'm going to call Cabe." Happy called out as she jogged to the land line phone.

"What? Why? She's just going into shock, it's nothing Cabe needs to worry about."

Happy glared at him as she pressed the phone to her ear. "Not about Paige, genius. If your little theory is right, everyone in the garage is in jeopardy, especially Walter. We need Cabe here, now."

"She's right." Paige softly stammered. "What if he comes here while all of us are sleeping and Walter's just upstairs working, he'll never see it coming."

Toby firmly grabbed both of Paige's shoulders. "That's not going to happen, Paige. Cabe will get security, and we'll either track Collins down or be ready for when he comes."

**/WEAKNESSES\**

Paige calmed down quickly enough. When Cabe arrived, the rest of the team filled him in. "If you guys are right, we're going to need security. Is there some high tech lock we could put on the door?"

"Nothing Collins couldn't break." Happy said.

"Then we'll hire a guard." Cabe said. "Get someone to have a twenty four hour post on the doors. In the meantime, our goal needs to be pulling Walter out of that rabbit hole."

"Where are we going to get the money for a guard?" Sylvester asked anxiously. He had been ringing his hands nervously since he heard Toby's unpleasant theory. Some colour had drained from the geniuses face, and Paige was worried he would follow her lead and go into shock.

"I'll bring this to Homeland. If I can prove that an escaped convict is targeting Walter, a guard will definitely be supplied." Cabe said. "He's upstairs?" Cabe asked.

"Yep." Toby said.

"And what have you been doing to try to get him out?"

"Paige goes up there and makes him drink, eat and sleep, with semi-success."

"Paige?" Cabe asked. "What about you guys?"

"We can't go up there." Sly explained. "He's written stuff everywhere, and if we see it we could go down the rabbit hole too. Paige is normal, though, so she's fine."

"I'm going to give it a try." Cabe said.

"You should pull your gun on him. Maybe giving him a scare will force him into surfacing." Toby chuckled. Cabe glowered at him. "I'm completely serious." Cabe ignored him and headed upstairs.

While Cabe dealt with Walter, Paige approached Happy again. "I know you had to help Walter on your own last time, so I was wondering if you could give me any tips on getting him to sleep."

"You have to force him into it. I used to tape the lights down and lock the door and keep him in there until he passed out on the floor." Happy shrugged.

"One time we mixed Nyquil into his water and he passed out while he was doing his work." Sylvester added. "But Walter doesn't know that. So don't go telling him."

"One time I tried to hit him over the head with a bat. I figured unconsciousness was close enough to sleep." Toby quipped.

"I caught him before he did that, though. That's a secret, too, so don't go saying that around Walt." Happy said.

"So, the options are imprisonment, drugging and violence." Paige deadpanned. "I don't know however I'll decide!"

"Drugging is the best. It's quick." Happy said, either oblivious or ignorant to Paige's sarcasm.

"Maybe it's quick, but I actually have a conscience, while you guys apparently do not!" Paige exclaimed. Were they actually seriously suggesting that she drug her boss? Was she even going to consider that?

"The rabbit hole isn't fun. But if you want Walter to sleep, you're going to have to get your hands dirty." Happy said.

"Great." Paige sighed. When she was growing up, she had wanted to be a doctor. Now she was babysitting her boss in a garage who, as Happy said before, was walking around in his own little coma. Never in a million years had she expected her career to become this.

Cabe came down the stairs a few minutes later with a larger frown than usual. "No luck?" Paige asked.

Cabe shook his head. "I've seen him down the rabbit hole before. It wasn't this bad, though. He responded occasionally. Whatever Collins did was thorough." Cabe grabbed his sunglasses off of the table. "I'm going to go see what I can do about that guard."

"I should probably try to get Walter to eat." Paige sighed. "He ate nothing yesterday."

"He needs water more than he needs food. He can last three weeks without eating, but only one day without water." Toby called out.

"He drank yesterday. I can bring up some water later." Paige said as she made Walter a sandwich.

He was still working when Paige came up the stairs. Paige handed Walter the sandwich. He tried returning it to her, but when that proved futile he placed it on the coffee table.

Paige sighed, remembering her struggle with Walter and the glass of water from the previous day. She placed the sandwich in his hand and sat down on the table before he could place it there.

Walter walked around and sat down on the couch, shifting down it until he was away from Paige. She jumped onto the couch as he placed the sandwich onto the table, pressing one knee firmly on his legs to keep him seated.

Paige shoved the table away and stood directly in front of Walter. She handed him the sandwich and he rested it on the empty space on the couch beside him. "No!" Paige exclaimed, exasperated. She put her other knee there, holding her weight off of Walter. He then placed the sandwich on the other side. Paige groaned as she slid her other knee off of Walter and put it there.

Paige grinned as she noticed she had Walter trapped. She handed him the sandwich again and clung the back of the couch so he couldn't hand it back to her. Walter remained motionless.

Was he finally going to eat? Paige prayed. But he remained unmoving, a strange expression coming over his face. Paige was terrible at reading Walter's facial expressions. His eyes were wide and his lips were slightly parted. The small wrinkles that he usually wore on his face due to how serious he often looked had melted away. His eyes had actually focussed onto Paige's. He looked a bit shocked and awed at the same time, and…. Was that embarrassment Paige was detecting?

It took Paige only a second to realize why. "Oh my god." Paige whispered. She had been so involved in forcing Walter to eat, she hadn't noticed the position she was.

Paige's face was mere inches from Walter. She was straddling his hips, on top of that. The shock on Walter's face was suddenly understandable. Paige flushed a deep red and climbed off of him quickly.

"Oh, god." Paige said, mostly to herself. Walter was still sitting motionless, eyes staring blankly ahead. "That was not appropriate."

Walter sat still for another minute, sandwich in his hand. Paige became increasingly worried, wondering if her stupidity had pushed him deeper into the rabbit hole. "Walter?" She asked.

Suddenly, his hand lifted to bring the sandwich to his mouth, and he started to eat. Paige broke into a wide grin as he quickly ate the whole thing. But she found it a bit strange that all she had to do was sit on Walter's lap and he did as she asked. Did she really have that much power over him? Paige decided to remember that for future instances. She was not going to straddle Walter again, but maybe she could think of something involving a bit of physical contact that might pry him out of the rabbit hole.

Her smile stayed with her as she strutted down the stairs victoriously. She cleaned up everything she had pulled out to make the sandwich. Maybe Walter wasn't out of the rabbit hole just yet, but at least she could get through to him a little bit. That would have to be enough progress for her.

"Someone looks cheery." Toby noted, walking up to Paige.

"I got him to eat." Paige beamed.

"Really? You were up there for like, three minutes." Toby marvelled. "Whenever I tried to get him to eat, way back when he fell down the hole last time, it took me at least twenty minutes. Same for Sylvester."

"You got him to eat?" Happy asked, wandering towards Toby and Paige. Paige nodded. "That was pretty fast."

"Faster than you." Toby said. He looked at Paige with a newfound curiosity. It made Paige's face flush like she had when she caught herself straddling Walter. "Why are you blushing?"

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Paige asked quickly.

"That was awfully defensive." Toby pointed out.

"I don't want to be psycho analyzed, Toby." Paige grumbled.

"But that's the only thing he's good at." Happy said sarcastically, earning a glare from Toby. "Poor kid."

Toby turned to Happy. "Kid? I'm older than you!"

"Didn't I catch you screaming at Proton Arnold last night?" Happy said. "Not even Ralph does that, and he's ten."

"I didn't know you were watching me play Proton Arnold." Toby smiled, raising his eyebrows.

Happy rolled her eyebrows. "The only person who could've ignored your screaming was Walter."

"Alright, whatever you say." Toby said with an even bigger smile. Happy rolled her eyes again and sauntered away. Toby watched her walked away with the goofy grin still on his face.

"Could you be any more obvious?" Paige asked when Happy was out of ear range.

"Yes." Toby said, still watching Happy as she returned to her work. "But I'm saving that for when I get really desperate."

Paige smiled at the shrink's shenanigans. His affection for Happy was adorable in Paige's eyes, and she hoped Happy would give up her façade soon. But she smiled even wider when she thought about what had just happened. Toby was about to pry the embarrassing truth out of Paige when Happy came to her rescue and refocused Toby's attention onto her. Happy had helped her. Paige guessed that was her way of thanking her for helping out Walter.

_I told you guys that was long! Phew... it took a while for me to write that._

_So I was wondering how long you guys think Walter is going to be/should be in the rabbit hole. I already know, but judging on your opinion I may tweak the story a bit. Please review! :)_

_Thanks for reading!_


	5. Chapter 5

_This chapter is a bit shorter. It was pretty fun to write, like all of the chapters so far, with exception to the last part. SPOILER: You guys are not going to be happy with the Paige's decision at the end of this chapter!_

_Disclaimer: I don't own Scorpion._

**Chapter 5**

Three long days had passed. Paige had gotten Walter to drink and eat several more times, and Toby offered a smart remark of her skills with the genius each time. His compliments had started not to faze her. What was the point in being able to make Walter eat and drink if he was still down the rabbit hole? Paige felt exhausted, mentally and physically. She felt like a hamster on a wheel. She ran, but no matter how hard she tried she hadn't moved an inch forwards.

When Paige walked into the garage that later that day, there was a variety of pharmaceutical products on the kitchen table. Paige frowned. "Is someone sick?" She asked Sylvester.

"No," Sylvester said, looking up from his laptop. "Yesterday you mentioned that you were going to get Walter to sleep again, so Happy and I got out the Nyquil and tranquilizers."

"I am not going to drug my boss!" Paige exclaimed.

"You're going to go with the locking method? That takes forever, if it even works." Happy walked over and said. "Take the Nyquil."

"No. I'll try my way first." Paige said. Paige doubted Walter would even be ok knowing that she had _drugged_ him into sleeping.

Happy shrugged. "You're just going to be wasting time."

**/WEAKNESSES\**

After Paige wrestled Walter into drinking and eating an orange, it was time for everyone to go to bed. Ralph was sleeping over at his dad's again so Paige had enough time to deal with Walter, though she hoped he would fall asleep soon. She had no intention of spending the night at the garage.

Paige felt awful as she lured Walter into his bedroom. She had thrown all the chalk underneath his bed, forcing him to get on his knees and go digging for them. She ripped a piece of duct tape and tore it with her teeth, plastering it over the light switch. She ran out of the room and locked the door shut.

She spent the next hour on the couch listening to Walter scrambling about. As she listened to him clawing at the door, she felt depressed. Walter's capabilities had her awestruck. He was incredible; there was no denying it. With a 197 IQ, Walter was quite literally the most advanced human being in the world. And there he was, trapped not only in his own bedroom, but his own mind.

Not only was he smart, Paige found him strangely attractive. It was strange because Paige's type was _not_ smart. She was a jock girl, she aways had been. It was evident in her son's father, a baseball player. Walter was not a jock. He wasn't weak, but he wasn't sporty or focussed on his fitness. But he was incredibly _real_. He knew amazing things, had more knowledge than Paige would probably contain over her entire life and had never lied to Paige. He only stated facts.

Not only was he an extraordinary human being, he made Paige feel important. Without him, she had been a waitress struggling to keep herself and her distant son from sinking. Now bills no longer haunted her and Ralph was flourishing in ways Paige had never even imagined. Walter had seen something in Paige that made Paige feel special.

He had sparked a long lost feeling in her. She had felt it the day she met him in the diner. It was familiar, a ghost from years ago that he had awoken. She had felt it in Scorpion everyday since and every time she watched her son interacting happily with the geniuses. She felt it each time Walter looked at her with a look that let her know that he did have emotions, no matter what he said. The feeling was hope.

It was like a flame that Paige had thought was dead, gone forever. She realized now it had merely been sleeping. It had thrived for a few months while she worked with Scorpion, but she could feel it dwindling, growing drowsy. It's fuel was depleting; Ralph no longer visited the geniuses. Paige hadn't been on a mission with the team in a while. Walter hadn't looked at her in days. Paige didn't want her hope to die out, but she felt it growing small and feeble inside her.

Walter may have been trapped inside of his room, but that wasn't the real trap. The real trap was the cage that was the rabbit hole. Walter was in a cage in a cage. But, so was Paige. She might have been the one standing outside of his room, but she was just as imprisoned as he was. All she wanted was to be freed.

Paige sighed. "This isn't right. No one deserves to be in a cage." Paige stood and unlocked Walter's bedroom door. He walked out, not looking at her as he passed by. Paige's life was filled with cages. She decided to unlock the only one she could, hoping she would find the key to others as well.

**/WEAKNESSES**

_ Walter and her were in separate cages that were only inches a part. They were like two dogs trapped in their crates. It was cold and musty, and Paige was afraid but she didn't know why. She screamed Walter's name, but he stared blankly forwards. Paige followed his gaze to Collins. He stood outside the cage with an awful grin, holding two large keys. "You choose." He said._

_ "Both!" Paige yelled. "I choose both." _

_ Walter's head swiveled quickly to look at her. "No!" He screamed. "Only one. Not her." He turned to Collins and nodded._

_ Tears streamed down Paige's face as she watched Collins unlock Walter's cage, freeing him. How could Walter just leave her like that? She had thought he was her friend. He told her he cared about her._

_ But a strange feeling settled over her as she watched Walter sit in a metal chair next to his now empty cage. Collins pulled out a gun, pointing it straight at Walter's head. Realization struck Paige. Collins didn't mean choose who went free._

_ Paige screamed as the gun clicked, loading. At the last second, Collins turned, pointing the gun to Paige. Walter's eyes went wide. "No!' He screamed. The last thing Paige saw was him jumping from the chair, lunging for Collins. A gun shot blasted through the air._

Paige jolted awake, sweat dripping down her neck. She gasped for breath as coherency filled her mind. It was only a dream, she told herself. Walter was ok. She was ok. Collins wasn't here.

Paige was lying across the couch, a blanket draped over her. Walter's desk chair had been dragged up to beside the couch. Walter sat in it with an elbow resting on the chair arm, his faced leaning against his palm. He was sleeping peacefully.

Paige smiled, forgetting her nightmare. Walter had slept. Paige hadn't even done anything, but he had still slept. Paige could faintly remember lying down on the couch after she released Walter from his bedroom. She had told herself she would leave after five minutes of just resting, but had apparently drifted asleep. She had no recollection of Walter falling asleep, however, or even moving the chair to beside the couch.

Paige stumbled downstairs and found the team eating in the kitchen. Her pulse had calmed from her nightmare, but she was still a bit shaky from her sudden retreat from sleep. "Good morning." She her team.

"Did he sleep?" Happy asked.

"I'm good, thanks, how are you?" Paige replied dryly as she poured a mug of coffee.

"I'll be better when he comes out of the rabbit hole." Happy grumbled.

"Did he sleep?' Sylvester repeated Happy's question.

"He did, actually." Paige took a small sip of her coffee.

"Wow." Happy said.

"More than wow," Toby said. "That was your first try. That's fairly impressive. How'd you do it?"

"Um… I don't know. You guys should probably come check it out." The team followed her back up the stairs, treading quietly to where Walter still sat, sound asleep.

"You went with drugging him?" Happy whispered, sounding impressed.

"No. I was going to lock him up in his room but... I couldn't do it." Paige admitted quietly. "It didn't feel right, trapping him in there. But I woke up and found him like this... I don't know what happened."

"Where did you sleep?" Toby asked.

"On the couch. I didn't mean to fall asleep, though. It just sort of happened."

"Well…" Toby said after a long pause. "He must have fallen asleep there because he was watching you sleep."

"What?" Paige blushed. "No."

"It's the only solution that makes sense." Toby began to explain. "Walter always keeps his desk chair over here. When he walked out of the bedroom, he must have seen you and dragged the chair over here to sit in it. It's even facing the couch, at a perfect angle to fully observe where your head would have been, which judging by the imprint left on the couch, was here." Toby pointed at a round impression on the couch. Paige flushed as she realized he was right, that was where her head had been. "The only plausible reason why would most likely be to watch you while you were sleeping."

"There's a 97.4% chance that's accurate." Sylvester added. "I think Toby's right."

"Why? That makes no sense." She said.

Toby shrugged. "Nothing makes sense while Walter is down in the hole. And this is the deepest he's ever been before, at least since I've known him."

Paige sighed. "Well, at least he slept, right?" She said.

"Yes, that's definitely good. It's impressive that you were actually successful on the first try. Speaking of success, someone owes me some money." Toby beckoned to Happy with his fingers before she rolled her eyes and handed him a wad of cash.

"You placed bets on whether Walter would fall asleep or not?" Paige asked, stunned.

"Why are you surprised? We gamble on everything." Toby said plainly as he jammed the money his pocket.

"I thought perhaps you might have some boundaries, but I guess I was mistaken." Paige muttered.

**/WEAKNESSES\**

Over the next two hours, Paige made Walter drink a glass of water before she packed her stuff up and headed out to pick Ralph up from Drew. She felt slightly uncomfortable being near him. Every time she looked at his face, she saw him sitting in the metal chair, waiting calmly for Collins to end his life. Paige shuddered each time she thought of the nightmare. Walter had almost given up his life for her in it. The feeling of the fear she had felt was all too real.

When Paige arrived at Drew's house, Ralph and him were sitting on the front porch, waiting for them. "Hi mom." Ralph grinned when he ran up to her car.

"Hey little man, did you have a good time with your dad?" Paige smiled back as Ralph climbed into the car.

"Yeah." He said.

"Hey." Drew walked up to Paige's car with his hands jammed in his pockets.

Paige's breath used to catch when she saw Drew. He was so handsome, and his eyes once held such love and captivation and made her knees grow soft and weak.

The fire of their love had long ago went out. But whenever she saw Drew now, she felt a small warmth inside of her, like a reminder of the intense heat that once existed within her for her and of the connection that had once existed between her and Drew. It was similar to what she had felt with Walter before he had fallen down the rabbit hole, though not nearly as strong.

"He was great. We watched A Bug's Life and I learnt everything you could possibly know about ants." Drew laughed and Paige smiled at her genius son.

"Yeah, that sounds like him."

"So…I was wondering if you're free tomorrow night? For dinner?"

Paige sucked a deep breath in. Tomorrow was Sunday and she had spent the entire week prying nutrition into her boss. A break sounded more that great, but would spending it with Drew really be a smart decision, considering their history? "I…" Paige thought for a second. Would Walter be alright without her?

"You deserve a day off, Paige. You're working harder than I've ever seen you work before." Drew added, trying to pull the odds into his favour.

"What time?" Paige asked, finally relenting. Drew had been trying so hard with Ralph and her. They both deserved a break and maybe a little bit of a reward.

Drew smiled widely, displaying perfectly white teeth. "I can pick you up at 6:30?"

Paige nodded. "Ok. Nothing too fancy?"

"Actually… I was thinking Vincelli's." Drew said.

"Vincelli?" Paige stammered. "Drew, that's way too expensive. We couldn't possibly go there."

"It's on me," Drew said. Paige opened her mouth to object but Drew quickly interrupted her. "I want to fix everything between us, Paige. I want to treat you to something. You deserve it."

Paige shut her mouth and finally nodded. Drew smiled again. "I'll see you tomorrow." She said.

"I can't wait!" Drew called out as she started the car's engine and drove away.

_ I know, I know... I hate Drew too. But I love Scorpion, and Drew isn't an outrageous villain in the tv show. I don't want to exaggerate his character in this story, since I'm trying to make these characters as similar to Scorpion's character as possible. That means that Drew does get a chance, and he isn't the biggest jerk in the world (upfront, at least). _

_ But I am in no way a supporter of him and Paige. That will become apparent in the next chapter. Don't worry, my fellow Waige-es. They might be going to a nice restaurant, but will they have a nice date? And what's going to happen if Walter notices that Paige is missing?_

_ Thanks for reading! Please review Weaknesses, as it motivates me to write more for the story!_


	6. Chapter 6

_ It's date night! I hope you guys enjoy this chapter, it's a long one!_

_Disclaimer: I do not own Scorpion._

**Chapter 6**

"Hey Sylvester." Paige opened her front door and greeted the genius. "Come on in."

Sylvester smiled and stepped into Paige's home. He wore a large yellow t shirt that donned Super Fun Guy on it. "Thanks so much for letting me take Ralph out today. When I told him about the Super Fun Guy convention, he was really excited."

Paige smiled as her son ran out to greet Sylvester. He was wearing the same bright yellow super fun guy t shirt as the older genius. "Oh my gosh, you're wearing the shirt I got you!" Sylvester gushed. His smile widened as he scuffed Ralph's hair.

"You guys look awesome!" Paige exclaimed. She took a quick picture of them before she sent them off.

"I should be home before eleven, at the latest. Ralph has a key to the house, so you guys are welcome to come back here once the convention's over." Paige told Sly.

Sly nodded. "We're going to have a lot of fun, right, Ralph?" Ralph nodded as they ran out of the car and down the street.

Paige was worried that Walter's…condition would make it so Ralph wouldn't get to see the geniuses. She was incredibly relieved that Ralph would be out spending time with one of his best friends today.

Paige jumped into the shower and started to get ready for her evening.

**/WEAKNESSES\**

"Wow." Drew said, his mouth slightly agape. "You look... Amazing."

Paige smiled. She had borrowed a maroon dress from one of her friends. It was tight, hugging and extenuating her curves and toned body. Her shoulders were bare and the top rim of her dress was bejeweled.

Paige had put some lipstick on and heavier make up. Vincelli was a famous Italian LA restaurant. It was extravagant, so Paige had pulled out all the stops.

Paige felt beautiful. She had spent a lot of time curling her hair and perfecting her make up, but as Drew admired her, a small part of her thought something was missing. She thought Drew's praises would make her feel happy, but she felt lonely instead. She wanted to know how Walter thought she looked, but he wasn't here and he was probably too far down the rabbit hole to care.

Paige felt guilty from thinking about Walter. Drew had just arrived to take her to an amazing restaurant and there she was thinking about her boss. Paige widened her smile and looked up and down Drew's body, which was clad in a dark black suit.

"You look nice, too."

As they drove to Vincelli Paige told Drew that Ralph had gone to a super fun guy convention with Sylvester.

"Sorry, which one's Sylvester again?" Drew asked.

"He's the genius who's more mathematically inclined? He has curly brown hair, big glasses." Paige tried to describe him.

"Oh, right." Drew nodded. "The heavier guy."

Paige frowned. Had he just characterized her friend and co-worker as _heavier_? Sylvester was an amazing human being. He could run impossible calculations through his head in seconds. He had a photographic memory. He was sweet, and innocent and loved Ralph unconditionally. And drew had just taken that wonderful man and belittled him into simply being 'the heavier guy'. Paige became very angry. He was her friend, and Ralph's friend. How dare Drew insult him!

Paige silently told herself to calm down. She reminded herself that Drew had probably meant no harm by that comment. It was probably just an observation. Besides, Drew was being so kind. They were pulling up to Vincelli, for god's sake! Paige told herself she would not let this evening spoil.

"We're here." Drew jumped out of the car and ran around to open Paige's door. Paige smiled as she stepped into the parking lot. Memories of when her and Walter attended the Gala rushed back to her, causing her to smile, then quickly frown. She scolded herself for thinking about Walter. This evening was about her and Drew possibly connecting and forming a stronger family bond with Ralph, and taking a break from worrying about Walter.

Drew and Paige stepped inside. The entry was packed with men in suit and women in dressed far fancier than Paige's. They squeezed through and quickly found a table that Drew had reserved for them.

The restaurant was breath taking. A crystal chandelier the size of Paige's car hung from the ceiling. The tables were round with white long linen and small square table clothes over top. Each table held an empty wine bottle with a candle in it. It was incredibly romantic.

"This place is amazing." Paige whispered to Drew.

He smiled. "You deserve it."

A waiter helped them into their seats and handed them menus before leaving. "How did you get a reservation?" Paige asked.

"I may have called a while ago, then hoped you would say yes." Drew admitted, opening the menu. "I've heard that this place beats going to Italy, though it's almost as expensive."

Paige laughed. She scanned the menu, and her phone beeped. She opened a text from Toby.

_'We lured Walter downstairs. Should I be watering him? I've never had a pet or a sibling or even a plant before, so idk what to do.'_

Paige rolled her eyes. She looked up as she responded and saw drew staring at her. "Sorry, it's work."

"It's fine." Drew gave her a small smile.

_'He is a __person,__ you do not water him. Just keep forcing it into his hand, eventually he'll get frustrated and drink it. Maybe H__appy should try instead..?' _Paige replied quickly.

"How exactly is work? It seems to be a demanding job." Drew asked.

"It certainly is." Paige agreed. "The things we do are crazy."

Paige's phone buzzed again, and she apologized to her date before checking it.

_'I lost a bet with her. I'm stuck with the job.'_ Toby's text read.

_'Lovely. Now please stop texting me, I'm on a date.'_ Paige texted Toby. She flipped her phone over and gave her full attention to Drew.

"A few weeks ago, we found a video of some convicts threatening a man they kidnapped but there was no audio, but there was a bag of chips in the video next to them." Paige told Drew. "So we actually hooked some wires up to a bag of chip, recorded someone yelling at it and compared the vibrations the bag made to how the bag in the video vibrated."

"So that you could figure out what the people in the video were saying? And it worked?" Drew marveled.

"It did!"

"That's pretty crazy."

"It was." Paige smiled, thinking about her new family and team. "They do that kind of stuff all the time. I wouldn't believe it actually works unless I saw it myself." Paige smiled happily, but it dampened when she noticed Drew wasn't returning her enthusiasm. He clearly didn't like Scorpion like she did. Awkward silence filled the space in between them as both of them struggled to find a new piece for conversation.

When Paige's phone buzzed, she flipped it over quickly.

"What now?" Paige groaned, but secretly she was relieved to have a disturbance in the silence. "I'm so sorry, I told him I was busy."

There were two texts from Toby:

_'Oh, yes, the prodigal father! However could I have forgotten! Fancy restaurant, fancy appetizers, fancy dinner, and the not-so-fancy deserting of you and your infant son.'_

_'Get my pun? Desert? Classic.'_

Paige rolled her eyes and typed a reply quickly. _'What part of please stop texting me don't you understand?'_ She turned her phone onto silent and flipped it over again, sensing part of the date's unpleasant turn had to do with her texting.

"Who's texting you? Walter?" Drew asked. Paige chose to ignore the slight aggression in his voice when he said Walter's name.

"No, I wish. Walter's basically been catatonic for the past few days." Paige said.

"What? Is everything ok?"

"Yes, it's just something that happens to geniuses." Paige began to explain. "When they really get focussed and excited about something, they start to ignore eating, sleeping and being social and all that. It's called 'going down the rabbit hole'. Walter's got it really bad."

Drew nodded but looked disinterested for the most part. Paige felt relieved when the waiter returned. She quickly felt guilty for her relief, though. Drew was trying to connect for her, and that was important for their family with Ralph. She should just quit talking about herself and Scorpion. Wasn't the whole reason she had agreed to the date to escape work, anyways?

Paige ordered and sneaked a peak at her phone to see it bombarded by Toby.

_'Wow, could you reply any quicker? That must be one sad date.'_

_'How bout i call in five minutes with an emergency so you can bail? Like what girls do in the movies.'_

_'im taking your unresponsiveness as an SOS.'_

_'Do NOT call'_ Paige typed as Drew ordered. She put her phone down and returned her attention back to Drew after the waiter left.

"So, that's enough about me. What about you? How's Portland going?"

"I still haven't gotten a call back. Which could be bad, or good. Portland isn't exactly great at organizing this stuff." Drew said. "I think I've got it in the bag though because my pitching was..."

Drew launched into some boring rant about pitching and curve balls and fast balls... Paige just smiled as her eyes glazed over. She focussed on the spaghetti that she had just ordered and how amazing it was going to be.

"I really think Ralph would love it there." Drew quickly recaptured Paige's attention when he mentioned her son. "There's beaches that we could have picnics on, there's awesome schools that Ralph could go to and we could buy some snorkeling equipment and take him out to see the fish... I could even teach him how to fish." Drew sounded excited.

Paige wanted to be excited. But in a moment, she came to realize something. Paige had always wanted family. The love, compassion and quirks all mixed together with her and her son and some others. She thought she could find that with Drew, but she had already found it. There was no point searching for something that they already had. Scorpion was one big family that suited Ralph better than anyone in the entire world could. Paige didn't want Ralph to lose his father, but he didn't want him to lose his family, either.

"Drew, I don't know if that's a good idea." Paige said. Suddenly, her phone started ringing. Paige flushed, seizing it quickly to see Toby's name on the display screen. She hit end call and put the phone call ringer onto silent, as well.

"Sorry. It's just Toby being Toby." Paige sighed.

"Why don't you think it's a good idea? We could be a family." Drew returned right back to the subject. Paige cringed, hoping he would forget when Toby called. Maybe she should have taken the bail-out call.

"We're a family _here_. Ralph has you and me, but he also has Scorpion."

"Your co workers? That's not the kind of family I was thinking of."

"But they're his family too. Part of the reason I took a job there was for Ralph to be around people who were like him. He has become so much better now... He could hardly process being around me before, but now he freely holds my hand and hugs me... He's winning science fairs and going to birthday parties and he's so happy, and I don't know if he would be in Portland."

"I think he will be. You're just making up excuses to make you feel better for being with Scorpion more than you are with Ralph. Your job shouldn't take up your entire life, Paige, and keep you from having your family." Drew said coldly.

Paige narrowed her eyes. This date had gone south, fast. "You of _all_ people have no right to say that to me." She said harshly, feeling her eyes sting a little.

Suddenly, Drew's phone started ringing. Paige sighed in relief, grateful for the few seconds she was given as Drew fished his phone out of his pocket. Paige took a deep breath and willed the tears that threatened to drip down her face back into her eyes. She would _not_ cry in front of Drew.

Drew frowned at the unfamiliar number on the display screen of his phone before answering. "Hello?"

His face darkened as he listened to the voice on the other end. He handed the phone to Paige.

"It's for you." he grumbled.

Paige took it, puzzled. "Hello?"

"You could've answered your phone, you know." Toby said from the other end.

Paige sighed. "I told you not to call me, Toby." She tried to sound angry, but she was incredibly relieved to have the conversation interrupted.

"This is not a bailout call. Well, it kind of is but it's an authentic bail out call. We need you down at the garage."

"I told you I'm on a date." Paige hissed. She jumped as he heard something smash on the other end of the line. "What's going on over there?"

"Walter's going crazy. We really, _really_ need help calming him down." Toby said as something else smashed.

Paige sighed as she saw the waiter walking towards her and Drews table with two large plates. She was so hungry and had been so excited for her meal. The smell wafting from it made her stomach grumble. "Fine. But I swear I'm going to kill you if there's actually nothing wrong."

"Hurry!" Paige hung up and handed the phone to Drew.

"Sorry, could I get that to go?" Paige asked the waiter. He nodded and left briskly with her plate.

"What?" Paige winced at the wounded look on Drew's face. "You're leaving?"

"I'm sorry , there's an emergency at work. A break in or something." Paige fibbed, embarrassed that the reason she was ditching Drew was because her boss was 'going crazy'.

"So? You can't just leave." Drew stood as Paige put on her coat.

"I'm so sorry Drew." Paige took a second to stare at Drew as she considered asking for a rain check. But did she want one?

Before she could decide, the waiter returned with a plastics container. "Enjoy." he said.

Paige thanked him. "I'll pay you back when you come to pick up Ralph for school tomorrow." Paige said.

"Paige..." Drew said, looking desperate.

Paige knew he was hoping she would ask for a rain check. He had been working really hard with Ralph and her, but something dawned on Paige. Drew didn't deserve a reward for trying to form a bond with Ralph. It was something he should be doing simply because Ralph was his son. Paige owed Drew nothing. "I'm sorry." She said.

**/WEAKNESSES\**

Paige couldn't help but feel slightly relieved as she drove towards the garage in a cab she had hailed. Her date had been... Uncomfortable, awkward, and it was just about to become aggressive.

Paige whipped open the garage door. "What's going on?" She called out.

Happy ran to Paige immediately, looking concerned. "Toby was being an ass. Made some wise cracks about you and Drew to see if he could get a rise out of Walter." Almost of cue, the sound of something fragile shattering came from the kitchen. "It worked."

Paige swore as she followed Happy to the kitchen. Walter stood near Toby, holding a large plate in his hand. His face was dark and angry but his eyes were still lost down the rabbit hole. "Walter, please don't do that. You've already broken two plates." Toby was begging Walter.

Walter reared his arm back, ready to smash it against a wall, but Paige hurried forwards into his line of sight. "Stop!" She yelled.

Walter's eyes focussed for a few seconds, leaving the blurry unseeing state the rabbit hole had given them. He used those precious moments to look up and down Paige's body. His lips parted slightly, and the plate slipped out of his hand and fell down beside him. It shattered into a million pieces.

"What the hell is going on here." Paige demanded, trying not to blush too much from Walter's blunt appreciation of her dress.

"I was just joking around, trying to see if he'd pull out." Toby scratched his head. "I forgot about the violent phase." he mumbled.

"How the hell do you forget about that?" Happy growled.

"What's the violent phase?"

"Sometimes when Walter goes deep down the rabbit hole, after a while he realizes what he's done and he wants to come out. If he's too deep he can't come out easily, so he goes a little crazy." Happy explained.

"He gets really angry, and breaks stuff. It's kind of like becoming a hulk, with all the anger and frustration, but instead he just becomes more like Happy." Toby added. Happy glared at him.

"What happened?" Paige asked. She looked straight at Walter, but looked directly ahead, unseeing.

"I was being sarcastic." Toby defended himself.

"He was being an asshole." Happy interrupted him.

"I told Walter that you were out with Drew…" Toby said. He was clearly ashamed of what he said, and looked at the ground. Paige was stunned that he could even feel shame.

"And?"

"And I said that at this rate, if Walter didn't pull himself out of it, he was going to push you away and Drew would win you back and you'd end up going to Portland with Ralph." Toby finished.

"Then he pitched some very imaginative ideas about what you and Drew might do after you leave the restaurant." Happy added, giving Toby a furious look.

"You didn't have to tell her that part." Toby mumbled. He looked to Paige, seeing the disgusted look on her face. "I'm really sorry, I didn't mean for this to happen or do anything to offend you. I just wanted to get him to react."

Paige shook her head, sighing. Toby's intentions had been somewhat pure, in a completely inappropriate, unpure Toby way. She felt depressed looking at the layer of glass and porcelain shards that coated the kitchen floor. If it weren't for her heels, she would have sliced her foot open on the glass.

"Is it true?" Walter said suddenly. Paige's head jerked up to look at him, shocked. Happy and Toby stared at him with the same astonishment. Had he really just spoken? "Are you going to go to Portland?"

Walter's eyes were glazed over, looking straight through Paige. His hands trembled. "I don't know." Paige said.

"I told you I didn't want you to." Walter said coldly.

"I don't know! I don't think I'm going to go there. I'd rather be here." Paige admitted.

Walter nodded. "Ok." He visibly calmed down.

But it was Paige's turn to grow angry. Ok? That's all he had to say after he smashed countless things and interrupted her date? She wanted an apology. "Ok?" She asked. "No. This is not ok. You cannot have this much control over me. I spend every day trying to get you to talk and wake up, making you food, getting you to drink and sleep. All I wanted was one day and one night to myself, to do whatever I want, but you won't even let me do that!" Paige yelled.

"Paige," Toby warned, anxious that Walter might become angry again.

"No. This isn't ok. He doesn't get to have this much power over me. I was on a date, Walter! I haven't been on a date in years, and I was excited! I did my hair, I wore this dress, I was going to eat expensive Italian food… I should not have been interrupted because my boss was throwing a tantrum! You are a grown man! Act like one!" Paige spun around to walk away.

"I'm sorry." Walter mumbled. She turned around and saw him staring at the floor.

Paige sighed. She knew how hard it was for Walter to say sorry. It could only be more difficult to apologize while he was down the rabbit hole. She took a deep breath and lowered her voice to calm pitch. "Just clean up the mess you made Walter." Paige sighed.

Paige went back to the front door to check her phone. There were six missed calls from Toby, all dated to when she was still at Vincelli. But now two calls from Drew were added to the list. There were a few texts, too, but Paige ignored them.

She sighed. She was exhausted, as per usual. The men in her life were bringing her down. Walter with his rabbit hole, Drew with his condescension and Toby when he was being Toby.

"You're amazing, Paige." Toby walked over to her. There was slight caution in his steps, as though he was afraid Paige would lash out on him.

"I really don't want to hear it, Toby." Paige said, tucking her phone back into her purse.

"No, I'm serious. Walter is actually cleaning up. Do you know how many times we've asked him to clean up whatever disaster the rabbit hole created? I've lost count, but he didn't do what we said even once."

"You shouldn't be amazed, Toby. He should clean up his crap automatically." Paige said dryly. "We shouldn't have to beg him."

"Well, I'm amazed anyways." Toby jammed his hands into his pocket. "So… How was your date?"

"It was fine." Paige growled.

A smile spread across Toby's face. "It was that bad, huh?"

Paige narrowed her eyes at Toby. "Why are you smiling?"

"I hate Drew. Sly hates Drew, though he'll never say it out loud. Walter is going to thank me for getting you out of that date when he wakes up, because he hates Drew the most out of all of us." Toby explained. "We don't want him near Ralph. We don't want him near you, especially Walter."

Paige's mouth hung open as she marvelled at the sincerity in the shrink's words. "Are you mad at me for ruining your date?" Toby asked. "And be honest. I can tell if you're lying."

Paige sighed. "No." She admitted. "You didn't ruin it."

Toby grinned. "Good. I'm not glad you had an awful time, but I'm happy you did at the same time." Toby said.

Paige rolled her eyes. "You just had to ruin the moment, didn't you?"

Toby chuckled. "Walt better thank me when he gets out of the hole because he rewarded my wingman-ness with smashing my favourite mug."

Paige laughed. "Your wingman-ness?" Toby winked and strutted away. Probably to go bug Happy. Paige had noticed that's all that ever seemed to be on his personal agenda.

Paige was left to watch Walter as he quietly swept the entire kitchen. She pondered what Toby meant, though part of her already knew.

_ I hope you guys like this chapter! I especially enjoyed writing Toby... he can be a bit of an ass, but his intentions were for good._

_Thank you so much, all of you, for your reviews! I appreciate all the advice for the story's plot and encouraging feed back. Please continue to review!_


	7. Chapter 7

_This chapter is super late! I was doing well posting everyday but had to go out with family yesterday and I couldn't post this morning because I had to rush to school... Very sorry to those who were expecting a chapter._

_ Anyways, this is definitely one of my favourite parts of the story. You guys will see why ;) (Yes, I'm talking to you, Waige fans)_

_Disclaimer: I do NOT own Scorpion._

**Chapter 7**

A week had passed since Paige's date. Progress had slowed, though it was debatable if it was even moving before.

The team became more desperate in their pursuit for Collins. They maintained surveillance cameras around LA, a guard was positioned at the garage door and the email had been through countless decoding soft wares. Each time they found a location for Collins, they hacked into cameras around the area and found it to be a trick. Collins was beating them down.

Paige feared everyday he was going to bust down the garage door and come for Walter. As the teams desperation increased, she could tell they had similar worries. Tension in the garage was thick enough to slice through with an axe.

Day after day Paige had forced Walter to eat. Her routine with him became dull and exhausting; argue and wrestle until Walter relented and repeat. She soon decided she would try to make him sleep again. She didn't bother to tell the team. They were absorbed in a new idea they had discovered; searching for Collins' possible collaborators.

Paige put her game face on when she walked up the stairs and saw Walter quietly working.

"It's been two weeks Walter." Paige begged. "You need to wake up. Or at least sleep." Walter ignored her, scrawling something on a note pad and muttering.

Paige sighed, waiting a moment for Walter to react. A small thought crept into her mind. Happy had set out the Nyquil again a few days before, her not-so-subtle way of telling Paige she needed to get Walter to sleep again. Happy had given Paige a pointed look when she noticed the Nyquil, but said nothing about it.

Paige rejected the thought quickly. She was disgusted that she even thought about drugging her boss.

"Walter! It's almost midnight. Please!"

Once again, all she got in response was muttering. Mumbles of none sense. It was making Paige go crazy. She'd had enough of all this. She was starting to get frustrated.

"That's it." she said, snatching the note pad away. Walter stood up immediately, frowning.

"No. You don't get it until you've slept." Paige walked over to Walter's bed and thrust the notebook beneath the covers. Walter got on the bed and reached for it, but Paige pinned him down when he tried to resurface.

Walter tried to move his arms to push her off, but Paige laced her fingers through both his hands and pinned then over top of his head. Walter was stronger than Paige expected, though. He began to slowly lift her arms up, even though Paige used all her might to keep him down.

Under normal circumstances, Paige was sure the man would have simply stood up without a problem. Luckily (well, more like unfortunately since the whole rabbit hole mess was completely unlucky), he had gone without proper sleep, nutrition and water for two weeks. So with great effort Paige managed to keep him down. She could see how frustrated he was, but Paige was a single mother. She had spent many nights with her own genius as he tried to coerce her into letting him stay up late. If anyone was able to get Walter to sleep, it was Paige.

**/WEAKNESSES\**

Paige awoke with hardly any memories from the previous night. She always woke in a confused state, more disheveled and slow than the average person. That's just how she was.

She moved her head a bit, nuzzling her pillow. A soft rhythm played beneath her ears; a slow thudding that sounded distant and a lot like an echo, at the same time. In her exhausted state, she kept her eyes shut as she pondered what the noise was.

As coherency slowly returned to her, she realized her pillow was also moving in a similar pattern. Up and down, fluidly and at a relaxed pace. Paige was in no particular hurry to be concerned as to why she heard the melodious thudding and why her pillow rocked; it was when she trying to move her fingers that she fully snapped in consciousness. She found something soft entwined with both her hands - fingers.

Paige instantly looked up to her hands that were stretched above her head. Her heart lurched when she saw Walter's head, turned to the side, only inches above hers. His eyes were shut and his features smoothed with the tranquility of sleep. His long lashes cast long shadows of his eyelids to make him look strangely soothed, something he had not looked like in the past few weeks.

And Paige was lying on top of him, using his chest as a pillow.

Both their hands were above their heads, fingers still laced together. Paige quickly remembered how she had pinned him down the night before, fed up with his refusal to sleep. She hadn't expected to fall asleep with him.

Paige didn't know what to do. Her mind raced almost as fast as her pulse. This was wildly inappropriate. Walter was her boss, and she had just spent the night on top of him! (not in THAT way, but still.) What if he woke up that second and saw her staring up at him? This wasn't right.

At the same time, Paige was thankful that Walter was asleep. The dark crescents that marked the soft skin underneath his eyes were so dark it looked as if he had rubbed eye liner there purposely. Paige was grateful that his rest had caused those shadows to fade slightly. If she moved, he would probably wake up, and her day of chasing him around would begin.

A small part of Paige, though she would never admit it to anyone aloud, was completely content in her position and dreaded the thought of moving. Though she had spent the entire night with her arms hoisted up above her head, she wasn't uncomfortable in the slightest. In fact, the position was startlingly natural to her, though she could only imagine how strange it looked. Paige didn't want to move.

So she resolved that she would pretend to still be asleep, with her eyes shut, and wait for Walter to stir, then jump off of him. Hopefully in his rabbit hole state he wouldn't be alarmed by her proximity. Paige was well aware about Walter's feelings on physical contact. She felt like it was a selfish decision, but she reminded herself that Walter would only benefit from more sleep.

Paige spent half an hour listening to Walter's relaxed heart beating beneath her ear. His breathing rocked her up and down gently. She almost fell asleep again, until Walter let go of her right hand and lazily threw his arm across her back.

Paige's breath caught. Should she move? She thought he was still asleep. She peeked up at his face cautiously and saw his eyes still closed. Paige felt relieved. She closed her eyes again, swearing to herself that the next time he moved she would get up off of him. But soon the warmth of Walter's body cocooned her, and she felt herself being rocked to sleep again...

**/WEAKNESSES\**

Paige woke up again, but this time with a jolt. Had she fallen asleep again? No, no, no... She had to be alert for if Walter moved! But, strangely, she was on her back. Even stranger still, the bed covers were now on top of her.

Paige sat up and looked around but couldn't see Walter. He must have gotten up on his own and left. But how did she get under the covers?

A ridiculous idea fell upon her. What if when Walter woke up, he had pulled the covers over Paige before he left? Paige scolded herself for having such high hopes, like a child. Walter was too far down the rabbit hole to do something like that.

But the more she thought about it, the more sense it made. There was no other way that she could have woken up like that. Paige stood up clumsily on the wooden floor and walked out of the room.

She passed by Walter, who was wearing different clothes than the day before. He was working on the same note pad that Paige had used to bait him the night before.

"Good morning, Walter." Paige said curiously. Walter looked to her for a second before turning back to his notes.

Paige stumbled down the stairs to make herself and Walter breakfast. Toby and Happy were having one of their unusual conversations (Toby flirts, Happy insults him but only spurs him on) when they paused to see Paige.

"Spend the night again?" Toby asked.

Paige nodded, yawning. She ran her hand through her frizzy hair, instantly blushing when she pictured her humiliating bed head. "Ralph spent the night with Drew."

Happy sighed disdainfully. "I don't know why you try. It's not worth it if nothing works."

"But it did work." Paige said before Happy turned away. Both geniuses looked at Paige intently with raised eyebrows. "I got him to sleep. For the whole night, too."

"How on earth did you manage that?" Toby asked. "Did the same 'watching-you-while-you-sleep' Twilight bullshit work again?"

"well," Paige's face reddened when she thought of her body pressed against Walters as she drifted back to sleep. "I got fed up, so I kinda... Tricked Walter into crawling on top of the bed. And I was able to hold him down because he's so exhausted and weak from not eating anything."

"So you held him down until he fell asleep." Happy finished, actually looking impressed. It was an abnormal expression on Happy that shocked Paige, though she didn't dare show it.

"Why didn't you come and tell us?" Toby exclaimed. "Happy's been banging things around all morning! She probably woke him up!" Happy glared at the shrink.

Paige didn't answer. She felt embarrassed about how she had spent her night. Would she tell them she fell asleep on top of Walter somehow? Or would she take a risk a try to lie to Toby?

Before Paige could decide, Toby had already connected the dots. "You fell asleep, too." Paige's face turned a bright shade of red. "But if that were all, your pupils wouldn't be so dilated and you wouldn't be blushing so much... Something humiliating happened. He didn't strip naked, did he?"

"No!" Paige stammered.

"You fell asleep? Like with him?" Happy exclaimed, awed by her own words. Paige's cheeks flared a deeper red.

"In Walter's bed?" Toby asked, stunned. Paige didn't reply, but she reddened further, fidgeting slightly with her fingers. "On Walter!" Toby spun around, clutching his hat on disbelief.

"And he's _still_ not out?" Happy exclaimed.

"I guess not! But I did fall asleep on... Well, stomach first on top of him," Paige struggled to continue the awkward conversation, her face becoming redder than a beet "but when I woke up I was under the covers and on my back, with Walter gone. We didn't have the covers over us in the first place." Paige's voice was shaky from embarrassment.

"He must have tucked you in when he woke up." Toby said.

"But he was down the rabbit hole, he wouldn't have done something like that." Happy pointed out.

"Wait, hold on a minute," Toby said. "You're positive that he tucked you in?"

"Yes." Paige said in a small voice.

"If he would only do that if he's out of the rabbit hole, he must have been out."

Happy rolled her eyes. "That makes no sense, Doc."

"He must have woken up out of the rabbit hole, had the decency to tuck you in... But why is it that none of us can go up there except for Paige?" Toby wondered aloud.

"If you see his work, you might go down too." Paige answered. Her puzzled expression quickly dissipated while she spoke.

"He saw his work, and it all came tumbling down on him again." Toby finished.

"He woke up, though." Happy said. She looked at Paige. "You woke him up."

Paige felt dazed. The very thing she had been praying for had happened, but it had been taken away just as quickly.

"My lord, no wonder you've been having so much luck with him!" Toby exclaimed. "You're literally his cure!"

"We've got to do it again." Happy said. "Walter and Paige need to sleep together again." Upon seeing Paige's face contort and go extremely red, she added. "Not like that, of course."

"Though I'm sure that would work, too," Toby mused.

Before anyone could add anything to that, Sylvester emerged from his room. "Hey, could one of you drive me over to see Megan? Walter hasn't been able to see her, and she texted me to-" Sylvester's words halted when he saw Paige's face. "Why do you look like a tomato?"

Paige raised an eyebrow and Sylvester immediately scrambled to fix his mistake. "I meant why are you blushing so much, I didn't mean that you actually resemble the fruit, you look very, very human." Sly tried to console her.

"Paige slept with Walt and he came out of the rabbit hole." Toby told Sly. Sly's jaw dropped and flushed a brighter red than Paige.

"Not like that! We fell asleep together." Paige said quickly as Sylvester's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.

"But he saw those equation boards," Toby flicked his finger to above them all where Walter was quietly working. "And went right back down again."

"Well that's great! They just have to..." Sly made a few awkward hand gestures.

"It's not like they actual did the dirty, Sly, you can say 'fall asleep together'." Happy said impatiently.

"Fine, that," Sly said, still uncomfortable. "And we get rid of the equation boards and everything related to them and he'll be out."

"I don't think I can get him to sleep again tonight, guys." Paige said.

"That's fine, we'll go to the drug store, find some tranquilizers and drug him!" Toby exclaimed, strangely excited and happy to drug his friend (though with the geniuses, especially Toby, it wasn't strange in the slightest.)

"Don't we have tranquilizers?" Paige asked, remembering the medical display she had received last time she forced Walter into sleeping.

"Long story…" Toby said, fiddling with his hands.

"You can drive me to Megan's hospital, as well?" Sly asked hopefully.

"Sure buddy. We probably shouldn't use them right away, so there's some time to spare." Toby grabbed his coat, then turned to Paige. "Can I borrow your car? Mine broke down and someone" Toby's eyes flicked to Happy. "Promised to fix it and never delivered."

"Sure, my keys are on the counter." Paige pointed.

"Are you sure you want to do that?" Happy asked uncertainly. "If you take a look at Toby's car, you'll wonder if it broke down or went through a couple transport trucks."

"You're the last one who should be talking about quality of driving!" Toby called as Sylvester and him headed towards the front door.

"So what are you doing texting Walter's sister?" Toby asked Sly as he grabbed his coat. "You don't want Walter to come out of the rabbit hole to find out he's got a brother-in-law, do you? It'll probably send him right back down again!"

Paige and Happy never got to hear the rest of that conversation because the door slammed shut behind the boys. They could imagine the uncomfortable look on Sylvester's face, though.

The two women stood in awkward silence for a second. "I've never seen your face so red before." Happy finally said. "I've never seen anyone's face so red before."

"That was not a comfortable conversation." Paige said, following Happy to her corner as she rifled through some metal bits.

"You know, I might not be a shrink, like Toby," Happy said. "But I would say that you enjoyed sleeping with Walter."

"Falling asleep with Walter!" Paige practically yelled.

"I didn't hear any denial." Happy said, looking at Paige with the same smugness she sometimes saw on Toby. (Ok, sometimes was a really big understatement)

"This is not an appropriate conversation!" Paige said, even though her and Happy both knew she was avoiding the truth: Paige did enjoy sleeping alongside Walter. It was comfortable, pleasant, warm... Walter had just showered and smelt of soap and other, less distinguishable but soothing scents.

Happy raised an eyebrow. "Now you want to talk about what's appropriate?" Paige pressed her lips firmly together, narrowing her eyes. Happy raised her hands in defense, clearly amused. "Hey, I'm just fooling around. You got him out. No one cares how you had to do it, we're just grateful you did."

"But he's back down." Paige muttered.

"Not for long." Happy said. "Go get some food. Call Ralph. You solved a problem none of us geniuses could." Happy looked back down at her work.

Happy had never been quite too talkative to Paige before, and Paige was stunned. Aside from being independent, strong women, Happy and Paige had only Scorpion in common. Paige didn't connect with any of the geniuses exceptionally well, except for maybe Walter. She realized that their EQ made friendships, even with each other, strenuous and unnatural. What She didn't realize how much Walter meant to Happy, as a friend, in spite of their very low EQ levels. She wanted him back, badly. All of them did. Paige had felt alone before, being the only one able to help Walter, and the only one who had seemed to care. But she didn't feel so alone anymore.

_They've finally found the cure to pull Walter out of the rabbit hole! And (not so surprisingly) it's Paige!_

_If you think the discovery means the story's over, though, you're wrong. It hasn't even hit the halfway mark. So stay tuned for the next chapter where we'll see if Walter can be woken up. I promise it will arrive 24 hours after this chapter._

_ Thank you so much for all of your reviews! Please continue to share your opinions on Weaknesses (bad or good) and how you think the story should progress!_


	8. Chapter 8

_I am a terrible person. I promised you guys a chapter in twenty four hours and failed to deliver. I`m so sorry :(._

_On a happier note, Weaknesses now has over 50 reviews! Wow! Thank you all so much! This is my first fan fiction and I really was not expecting this._

_So, anyways, back to the story. This is a very short chapter. The next few ones are all going to be ending with cliff hangers, so I`m determined to recommence with regular postings._

_Disclaimer: I still do not own Scorpion or any of its characters._

**C****hapter 8**

Paige woke up with a grin on her face. Today was the day Walter would finally be returned to reality. Tonight, he would finally desert the rabbit hole. Paige was so excited and happy. The end was near.

When Paige arrived at the garage, the team was hard at work. "What's going on?" she asked.

"We've found an associate for Collins." Sylvester explained. "Richard Kingston. He was spotted near the prison the day of Collins escape, he's done business with him before and he was seen in LA recently. Specifically around here."

"Around here? Paige asked uncertainly. "You think they're going to attack us or something?" Paige felt the elation that she had woken with dampen.

"No, were going to attack because we're going to find him _and_ Collins." Toby said. "Besides, I've seen pictures of Kingston. He's not the fighting type. Collins must be findings manpower elsewhere if he wants to get into here."

"So what are you doing now?"

"Kingston has a phone but unfortunately we can't pinpoint it. So, we're going through every single phone call made in a twenty blocks radius to see if the phones used belong to Richard Kingston." Sly explained.

"Sly's doing that end. Happy and I are doing the same with emails and computer IP's." Toby finished.

"This is all assuming he slips up and makes contact with someone. Collins probably Kingston against contacting anyone." Happy added.

"Let's hope he's stupid though." Toby said.

Paige nodded. "That sounds... Great." Their entire plan depended on something highly unlikely to happen. Paige knew from the geniuses how extremely unlikely Collins was to mess up. But it was a plan, and any plan was a start.

**/WEAKNESSES\**

Later that evening, after the Paige had forced food and water into Walter and the rest of the team had spent their day sitting behind computer monitors, there came a knock on the door.

Paige frowned and ran downstairs. Usually people just waltzed right into the garage. She opened the door to let Cabe inside.

"There a lock on the door?" Cabe asked.

"We've also got the guard outside. We're pretty focussed on defense right now. We think we found Collin's accomplice." Paige explained.

"If you've got a guard, what's a lock going to do?" Cabe asked.

"The guard didn't manage to keep you out, but the lock certainly did." Happy replied from her monitor.

Cabe glanced at her, response less before turning back to Paige. "Toby sent me some weird illiterate text about getting Walter out of the rabbit hole?" he asked.

"We figured out how to get him out." Paige said.

"Paige slept with Walt and he snapped out of it!" Toby called from his computer.

"I did not sleep with Walter, I fell asleep beside him." Paige said, exasperated. Cabe raised his eyebrow, making Paige to blush furiously. "But he's got all sorts of work around his room, so he saw it and went right back under. So I got rid of all his stuff and I'm going to try to make him sleep beside me again tonight."

"But this time she's using tranquilizers. It'll be more efficient." Sylvester added.

"No, I already said that I am not drugging Walter into sleeping." Paige sighed. She turned back to Cabe and noticed him looking at her funny. "What?"

"I've known Walter since he was Ralph's age." Cabe spoke hesitantly. "It took months to ease him out of the rabbit hole. Now, he's deeper down then any of us have ever seen him. And in two weeks, you've found a way to snap him out of it completely..." Cabe shook his head, clearly amazed. "I never thought I'd see the day when a woman has this much power over Walter O'Brien."

Paige blushed more. "Yeah, Paige." Toby stood from his desk and joined the two of them.

"Hey! Where do you think you're going, we need you watching the screen." Happy barked.

"You'll manage for two minutes!" Toby replied. He turned back to Paige and Cabe. "Walter's going to have a hell of a hard time lecturing on how love isn't real after he wakes up tomorrow."

Paige blushed an even brighter shade of red. "I-I think I'm going to go check on Walter." Paige stammered, feeling everyone's eyes turn to her after Toby's comment.

"Oh, I bet you are!" Toby winked. Paige scowled at him before retreating towards the stairs. "Let's not keep him waiting, hm?"

She only made it halfway up the stairs, though. "We've got an encrypted phone call!" Sylvester called out. Paige and everyone else ran to beside him. "It's using an algorithm to become untraceable, but I've been working on something that'll hopefully subdue its effects." Sly typed quickly and codes started running frantically across the screen.

"Hurry up! The call could end any second!" Toby said.

"It's doing its best." Sylvester muttered. The air was tense as the algorithm worked, until finally a map of LA popped up with two red blinking dots on it.

Voices came out of the computer monitor. "We strike in a week. That's it. I'll see you then." someone said.

Sylvester's fingers flew across the key board as the call ended. "That was definitely Collins' voice." Happy said excitedly.

"We've got a location on both of those dots." Sylvester said. "But it can't be that easy... There's got to be something else."

"What if the phone traces somewhere else? And that's just a decoy location." Toby said, tapping the red dot on the screen.

"I think I know something I can do to fix that." Sly said. He typed for a minute as everyone's pulse raced. Were they going to catch him? Paige didn't think that the teams plan would be remotely successful, but her pulse rocketed with excitement.

Three dots appeared on the screen surrounding one of the original ones. "The phone's set up to be linked to three empty locations." Sylvester reported.

"But there's four dots, which means one of those is actually where Collins is." Happy exclaimed.

_Things are really turning up for this story! They`ve discovered the cure to the rabbit hole, they`ve caught Mark Collins... It looks like Scorpion can do no wrong right now. It would be an awful shame if something were to... happen. ;)_

_Thanks for reading! As always, I appreciate all reviews, follows and favourites! A new chapter can be expected around 3 tomorrow, and hopefully for now on._


	9. Chapter 9

_This is another short chapter. I hope you guys all like cliff hangers, because I sure do._

_Disclaimer: I don`t own Scorpion._

**Chapter 9**

"We've got him!" Toby jumped up and down. "We out played Mark Collins! He may have tricked us, but we saw right through it!"

"Let's go get that bastard." Cabe said, pulling out his cell phone. "Agent Cabe Gallo. We've located the highly dangerous criminal. We need heavy back up to apprehend him. I'll be sending you the coordinates of four different areas we need to search immediately. I'll meet you at the first location."

"We caught him." Sly stared at the computer screen in awe, and enormous grin spreading across his face. Toby wrapped Happy in his arms, whooping in celebration. Paige reached across the desk and high fived Sly. "Suck it, Collins!" Sly blurted.

Everyone laughed at Sylvester's uncharacteristic words, making him blush a little.

"You kids done with your whooping and hoorays yet? We'll open the champagne later, it's time to go get this jack ass!" Cabe called from the door.

Sly, Happy and Toby cheered as they grabbed their coats and headed for the door, all clapping each other on the back. "I can't wait to see the look on his face!" Happy exclaimed.

Paige followed them with a grin, but paused. She glanced upstairs, seeing Walter, completely isolated from his friends' elation. Paige looked to Cabe. "I'm going to stay here with Walter, ok?"

Cabe smiled knowingly and nodded, then shut the door. Paige walked upstairs and listened to her team talking excitedly outside before car engines sputtered to life and their voices were gone.

"Hey." Paige said to Walter, still smiling widely. He paid her no attention.

"We've got him, Walter. He put you down the rabbit hole, and now we're putting him in jail."

Walter of course had nothing to say to that. Paige hadn't expected any different. She pulled his arms away from the chalkboard gently and strung hers around his neck. He froze.

Paige grinned at him. Their faces were mere inches apart. Paige knew how wildly inappropriate this was, but she was so overjoyed. The happiness was doing strange things to her, setting her on a high for spontaneous-ness, and the look on Walters face as his eyes focused on hers was only inflating that high.

Collins was caught. Soon, Walter would fall asleep next to Paige again and he would emerge from the rabbit hole and everything would be back to normal. "We've almost made it through this." Paige whispered. She swiveled her head around to kiss Walters cheek, then she rest her chin on his shoulder, hugging him tightly. She even felt his hands move up slightly, as if he was trying to hug her back but was far too weak in his rabbit hole to do so. This only made Paige happier.

Suddenly she heard loud bangs from outside. An echo-like gunshot made her jump and her smile die. She spun around, looking to the front door where the source of the gun shot was. Paige remembered the guard Cabe had hired to watch the door in case Collins arrived.

Paige grabbed Walters wrist and tugged him into his kitchen. She listened to the banging from the front door as someone tried to get in. Collins.

He had tricked them, Paige realized. Scorpion had told her how cunning he was, how he practically invented mind games. He made them think they had caught him, when really he had only lured them out of the building to leave Walter defenseless.

Paige gasped for breath as terror made her entire body shake. She looked to Walter, who was unreceptive to everything. Collins was here to kill him.

Paige wasn't going to let that happen.

Collins may have baited Scorpion out of the garage, but his plan had a small flaw. Paige hadn't gone with them. She could defend Walter, and foil Collins' plan.

Paige had felt fear before. The feeling of fright settling uncomfortably into her bones was fairly familiar to her. She has felt in when she realized Ralph's father was gone for good, on every tough night as she struggled with money and her distant son, on most scorpion expeditions as they hunted killers, thieves and convicts. Most recently she had felt it every time she looked into Walters glossed over eyes, wondering if they would ever see reality again. She took her fear and mustered up the strength that being a single mother had given her. The might that had come with working with a bunch of rowdy geniuses, and the courage that had accompanied every time she had spoken to Walter, knowing he didn't even know she was there.

Paige grabbed the longest knife that she could find in Walters' private kitchen, careful to tread quietly. She pulled out her phone and called Cabe. She had to dial his number took a few tries with her trembling hands. When he answered, she turned the volume down low and brought the phone up to her mouth. "He's here. Collins is here." she whispered urgently before ending call. She handed the phone to Walter and grabbed both of his shoulders, forcing him to look her in the eyes.

"I know you're down there somewhere, Walter." She whispered as the front door rattled even more. "I've seen you trying to get out. So I need you to listen to me. Mark Collins is out there, Walter. He's going to pick the lock and get inside. He's coming to kill you. You need to wake up, now."

Paige waited a minute, hoping desperately that Walter would wake up, but he showed no response.

"Fine. But I need you to stay here, ok? No matter what happens, stay here and don't move or make a sound. I'm going down there to stop him." Paige turned away from Walter taking a shaky breath before she turned back to him. If she thought she spontaneous before, when she was happy, she has no idea the effect fear had on her, because she was out-of-her-mind spontaneous now. She cupped Walters face, her fingers resting along him jawline, and kissed him.

It was a quick kiss. A kiss that was nothing at all like any first kiss between two people. First kisses were long and passionate, intense after previous temptation. This one was short but fiery. Paige knew why as she jogged down the stairs after she ran from Walter. It was no first kiss, but a last kiss. A goodbye kiss.

She hid behind one of the walls in the kitchen as the door swung open and the garage filled with the mad chuckling of Mark Collins. "Walter..." he called out.

Paige tightened her hand around the knife as she listened to his footsteps growing louder as he approached the kitchen. She waited.

_Thanks for reading! __Please review!_


	10. Chapter 10

_Here it is! Lucky number ten. Enjoy!_

_P.S.: You will notice that the first portion of this chapter is in italics. That's to represent everything that has been said sometime in the past. Hopefully you will figure it out ;)_

_Disclaimer: I don't own Scorpion._

**Chapter 10**

Paige ran from Walter so quickly she didn't see the expression on his face. She didn't get to see the vacancy slip from his eyes like an unneeded cloak. She didn't realize that Walter had woken up, that she had pulled him out.

**/WEAKNESSES\**

_I'd ask what you're doing, but it would probably be easier to finish it than explain it to me._

_What's he saying?_

_Like down the rabbit hole down the rabbit hole? What Collins was talking about?_

_How could Collins have had anything to do with this? Isn't he in jail?_

_Checkmate18396284._

_It's not like it's Medusa, Sly. You're not going to turn to stone._

_Walter, you got another letter about Megan._

_Walter, Ralph wanted to know about Einstein, he's learning about him in class._

_Hey Walter, want to come see a fortune teller with me?_

_Walter O'Brien, you better eat this damn sub. I will throw all the chalk out the window if you don't, I swear to god._

_What are you going to do if I erase it?_

_He's still oblivious._

_It wasn't his fault. He didn't mean to go down._

_Oh, Walter. You've got to snap out of it._

_Walter._

_Walter!_

_You can go back to your work once you drink all the water._

_Hey! Do you think I'm doing this for me? No! It's for you! I didn't do anything to warrant you ignoring me and everything I ask you to do. What's drinking a glass of water going to do, huh? Will it kill you to drink it?_

_Oh, god. That was not appropriate._

_Please wake up Walter. Please._

_Well, at least he slept, right?_

_What? No._

_I thought perhaps you might have some boundaries, but I guess I was mistaken._

_Stop!_

_What the hell is going on here._

_I don't know! I don't think I'm going to go there. I'd rather be here._

_Ok? No. This is not ok. You cannot have this much control over me. I spend every day trying to get you to talk and wake up, making you food, getting you to drink and sleep. All I wanted was one day and one night to myself, to do whatever I want, but you won't even let me do that!_

_I should not have been interrupted because my boss was throwing a tantrum! You are a grown man! Act like one!_

_Just clean up the mess you made Walter._

_Walter? Ralph misses you._

_It's been two weeks Walter. You need to wake up. Or at least sleep._

_Walter! It's almost midnight. Please!_

_No. You don't get it until you've slept._

_We've got him, Walter. He put you down the rabbit hole, and now we're putting him in jail._

_I know you're down there somewhere, Walter. I've seen you trying to get out._

_No matter what happens, stay here and don't move or make a sound. I'm going down there to stop him._

Everything crashed onto Walter like a wave, making him so dizzy he nearly toppled. Blood roared in his ears as he stumbled back a few steps. It was as if gravity had become stronger and was weighing Walter down, though Walter of course knew how very impossible that was.

The sentences flew around his mind like a hurricane. He recognized the melodious voice that spoke each word to be Paige's, but he noticed she wasn't near him. It seemed like they had been said over the course of a few minutes, but Paige was nowhere to be seen. And they lacked any acknowledgeable context, as far as Walter could tell.

Walter saw the garage was very dark. It was no longer morning like it had been when he opened his laptop. He wore different clothes, another sure sign that more time than he had expected had passed. He felt weak and worn down, like he hadn't eaten or slept in a month. Walter quickly deduced that he had been down the rabbit hole.

The seemingly million of words still rushed by in his head. Everything that had been said to him while he had been down the rabbit hole was now being whispered in small echoes, reverberating through Walter cranium. It gave him a splitting headache.

Walters lips tingled, feeling hopelessly bare. He remembered Paige quickly pressing her mouth to his before she ran away. Where did she run to? "_Stay here_." she had said. Why? Where did she go? "_I'm going down there to stop him." _Who?

A sudden bang made Walter jump. His pulse raced and his ears throbbed. Walter quickly assumed the loud noise was a gunshot. His stomach churned like stones were weighing it down. Why was there a gunshot? And where was Paige?

Fear settled into his core as he made a quick assumption. _"I'm going down there to stop him._" Someone was in the garage. And Walter had just let Paige go down there alone... oh, god.

A noise came from below him, downstairs, snapping him out of his own thoughts so quickly he jumped again. Walter was shaky. His head throbbed, and he felt himself growing weaker. His eyelids were dreary and threatened to slam shut at any second. But he tried to focus on the noise as it was heard again. It was some sort of wail, a pained cry that sounded distinctly feminine.

_"Stay here._" Walter was in no condition to face whatever horror was waiting for him down the stairs. He was feeble and his body desperately cleaved a meal and proper sleep. He knew that if he went down the stairs, what ever waited would have a sure advantage. The odds were stacked against him. It wasn't the first time, but today Walter was lacking a plot, an unstable, flimsy idea to follow through and achieve success. He had never done anything without a plan, no matter how rushed as doomed it seemed.

But Walter had no plan other than to find Paige. He assumed that would have to suffice.

Walter took shaky steps down the stairs and froze when he saw where the noise had come from. In the kitchen, he saw Mark Collins. Memories surged back to him of checking a strange email. Walter had no doubt that it was from Mark. But what really got Walters heart racing was the object in Mark Collins hand. A gun, made of smooth but dull black metal. It was pointed at a figure that laid on the ground in small scarlet puddle.

Paige.

_Mwahhahahahah! You escape off the precipice of a cliff only to find yourself trapped hanging off another one! By the time I'm done, you'll be used to cliff hangers._

_Thanks for reading! Please review! ! !_


	11. Chapter 11

_Hi everyone... I'm really sorry to leave you on such a big cliff hanger and then not post. Some of you might be thinking my neglecting habits to this story were merely to spur you on... but I tried to post two days ago and my internet was down. It only just went back up, so here's the next chapter!_

_I've received a few reviews from Sparksy9 requesting for the story to include Mark Collins exploiting the weaknesses of the other team members. This is mostly a Waige-centric story, so the story is mostly focused on the two of them. _

_My take on Collins, from the episode of Scorpion which we all were introduced to him, was that he was extremely resentful towards Walter for having him committed and thought himself to be above the other team members. Which is why in the story Collins is seen as obsessed on killing/torturing Walter instead of the others, and is focused on exposing only Walter's weaknesses._

_ However, he did exploit the other team members weaknesses as a whole in his mission to cause Walter suffering. He preyed on their dependency to Walter by mentally removing him from Scorpion. Then, Collins targeted Sylvester, Toby and Happy's hatred towards him by using their eagerness to catch him to lure them out of the garage so he could attack Walter._

_As for Paige... Collins didn't know her to well. She's basically his tool of destruction for Walter as you'll probably discover through further reading._

_As much as I think individual targeting and exposing each characters weak points would be fascinating, the story is more about Walter and Paige's weaknesses and obstructions as the story and their relationship progresses._

_None the less, Sparksy97, I hope you still enjoy this story even though it isn't exactly turning out how you hoped it to be :)_

_Anyways, once again, this chapter short and sweet ;) I hope you like it!_

_Disclaimer: I don't own Scorpion._

**Chapter 11**

Paige's hands were over her side trying to keep herself from bleeding out. Her attempts were futile, however; crimson liquid was seeping out and pooling around the tile floor at an alarming rate. Fat tears streamed down her face as she cried out again. Walter stepped towards them, but halted when Mark turned towards him, the gun flicking to face Walter as well. Walter raised his hands instinctively, trying to prevent Mark from shooting him.

A mad grin overcame Mark's face. "How nice of you to join us, Walter. How was the rabbit hole?"

"You." Walter seethed, his voice scratchy from lack of use but still filled with anger. Anger coursed through him immediately, and though his body swayed from exhaustion, his words were fierce. Mark grinned widely as Paige's head fell to the ground. She released another sickening moan that made Walter's stomach twist. "You did this. You shot her!"

"Yes. It's awful isn't it?" The corner of Mark's mouth pulled to the side as he gazed at Paige pitifully. "Look at her. She's spent so much time taking care of you Walter, the all holy leader of the group."

"I get that you hate me Mark, for sending you away. I get that. But why did you have to take it out on her? It's not her fault that I had you committed." Walter growled. Though he was weak, and what little integral strength remained in him was consumed with rage, Walter's intellect was still functional. He knew he needed a plan to get the gun out of Mark's hand. In order to create that plan, he'd have to stall to keep Mark from shooting him as well.

"You want to know why I shot her? It was because of you. She was here, ready to protect you. And when she tried to, I shot her. You let them all down when you dove in the hole, and she was the only one who believed you'd make it out. And now it's your fault that she's going to die." Mark was clearly basking in Walter's anger and inability to prevent Paige's seemingly inevitable demise.

Paige cried out again, blood soaking her shirt. "Mark. Let me call an ambulance and I'll do whatever you want. Please." Walter resorted to pleading.

"No!" Mark exclaimed as Walter reached to grab the garage's phone. He keep the gun trained onto Walter's temple, the wild glint in his eyes showing Walter that he would shoot again. "Let her serve as a metaphor, Walter. A metaphor for all the possibilities. The world was at our finger tips. We could have accomplished anything. Together, we could have done anything. But you killed those possibilities, and I was the only one who suffered. Now, you get to watch something you care about die. You may think you have no emotions, Walter O'Brien, but we both know watching her die, like I watched everything I loved die, will bring you to your knees."

"Please, Mark, I'm begging you." Walter pleaded, EQ exuding from him. His plan was feeble and poorly constructed; begging would hardly suffice, but Walter knew he had to do something. "She'll bleed out all over the floor. She has a son, Mark!"

"We had a future, Walter!" Mark yelled back. "But now I'm the one watching something that could have been beautiful die without a care in the world, and you're the one dying with it." Mark laughed cruelly. "I'll make it quick, though, Walter. Like you were with me. A short good bye."

Mark turned, pointing the gun at Paige's head. In less than a second, Walter felt anger fully consume him. The adrenaline he had been praying for finally rushed through him, bringing him a newfound energy, but Walter knew how temporary it would be. He quickly seized the opportune distraction as Mark prepared to end Paige's life, knowing it would be his last. Walter flung himself at him as a gunshot ricocheted through the air.

_Another cliff hanger... Though I'm sure at this point you're hardly surprised. _

_Thank you so much for all of your reviews! Please continue writing them! I read every single one, and each one brings a smile to my face :) _


	12. Chapter 12

_ONE HUNDRED REVIEWS! ! ! ! ! ! ! AHHHHHH! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! _

_Thank you all soooo much! This is my first ever fanfiction, and I can't even begin to explain how overjoyed and surprised I am... :D_

_Before this chapter begins, I'm going to get a little bit mushy. I want to thank all of you for reading this story and reviewing it for me. Writing has always been a passion of mine. Releasing my own work and getting so many positive and appreciative comments had just been amazing. Thank you all! I promise lot's more to come ;)_

_Anyways, back to the story. I know most of you are probably getting a little bit sick from these cliff hangers, so I promise this is going to be the last major one for a while. I hope you like it!_

_Disclaimer: I do not own Scorpion._

**Chapter 12**

Walter slammed Mark against the wall as a bullet shrieked through the air, narrowly missing Paige. The garage reverberated with the sound of both their bodies and the gun thudding against the ground.

Walter's head ached as the world swirled around him, going still just in time for him to see Mark desperately crawling for the gun. Walter flung himself on top of him before he could reach it.

Collins threw Walter off of him and punched him in the stomach. Walter groaned, doubling over. He was so weak - even his adrenaline couldn't hide that. But he knew that he didn't have time to lie helpless on the ground. He stood up shakily as Mark reached for the gun again, throwing his body at him again. This time Walter planted his knees on Mark's stomach, holding him down as he rammed his fist into Mark's nose.

Mark suddenly produced a knife from his pocket, and before Walter could react there was a searing pain in his bicep. Walter groaned aloud as Mark shoved him off of him.

Mark stood up and kicked Walter hard in his side. Walter felt his previous surge of adrenaline dying. His arm and head ached so badly... he just wanted to curl up and go to sleep, and for all of this to be over. He felt the rabbit hole beckoning to him, willing him to leave his painful reality and surrender himself back to the cocoon of ignorance the rabbit hole had provided.

Walter almost went back down. He almost did. The only thing that saved him from letting Mark take his life was a small cry; so quiet Walter was surprised he heard it. He looked to Paige, lying in a puddle of her own blood and reminded himself why he had to be strong. More adrenaline flowed through him as he remembered that she was dying and that the only person who could help her was him.

Walter knew that a person shouldn't remove a weapon embedded in them. The knife was the only thing preventing all of his blood from deserting him, much like Paige's had. But gritted his teeth and ripped it out of his arm, thrusting it into Mark's foot before he could kick Walter again.

Mark cried out and doubled over, quickly cradling his foot. Walter stood up, shuddering as black dots swirled around his vision like mini twisters. He reared his foot back and kicked Mark hard in the side.

Walter took a second to regain his balance and focus, temporarily willing away the black dots that flooded his eyes. He trained all his mind and willpower on harnessing the strength his adrenaline rush had given him.

He grabbed the cuff of Mark's collar and stood up, punching Mark in the face with all his might, putting all of his anger into his fists. Pain burned from his knuckles, but Walter's rage only fueled his ignorance of his own pain. He pummeled Mark repeatedly. "I've been down the rabbit hole for god knows how long!" There was a crunch as Walters fist connected with Mark's nose. It just made Walter more angry. "And you come here," he dragged Mark to the wall and slammed him against it. "And try to kill me!" he punched Mark in the face again. "And one of my team mates!" he finally landed his hardest blow yet, and Mark's eyes rolled back as his body slumped.

"Walter," a voice rasped from behind them. Walter dropped Mark's unconscious body, his head spinning. He ran to Paige, scanning her predicament quickly. Her face had grown pale and her brown eyes were only cracked open slightly.

"You're awake. You're out of the rabbit hole." Paige croaked.

"I need to get you to the hospital." Walter said. He grabbed the garages first aid kit and wrapped gauze around her side frantically, then wrapped it tightly around his own arm. The last thing he needed was his already unstable condition to weaken further. He surveyed the floor. About half a liter blood had leaked from Paige, approximately nine percent of her total blood supply. If her bleeding was stifled effectively enough by his bandaging to lessen her rate of blood release by half... Walter estimated she had about twelve minutes before she would slip into unconsciousness, which would lead to the betrayal of her organs. He once felt the now-all-too familiar feeling of adrenaline coursing through him.

Was he in good enough condition to drive? His vision swerved sideways every few seconds and his head rang painfulyy. His hands were quivering so much he had dropped the gauze roll twice while dressing both of their wounds. Walter deduced he was certainly in no condition to be on the roads. But Paige was in no condition to be in the garage.

He grabbed his phone and Paige's keys off the counter and scooped her up into his arms, rushing to her car. He tried to be careful not to shake her, but his body was rattling from his adrenaline.

Walter tenderly placed Paige into her seat and did up her seatbelt, reclining her chair gently so she didn't have to hold herself up. he paused, trying to think of what a Normal might say in this situation, in an attempt to comfort Paige. "Hang in there, Paige, you're going to be alright." Walter said. He hardly believed it himself.

Walter got behind the wheel and sped onto the streets as fast as he could. Though his health wasn't optimal, adrenaline still ran through him from his encounter with Mark. Paige groaned as he spun around a corner.

"Sorry," Walter winced. A flash from his early memories from when he had just emerged from the rabbit hole overcame him. He remembered Paige's hands intertwined with his and she slept soundly on his chest. It was a comfort that Normals enjoyed sharing, and on occasion, he himself had shared with Ralph. Walter reached over and grabbed Paige's hand, squeezing it softly as he kept the other hand on the steering wheel and his eyes focused on the road. He received the faintest squeeze back from Paige, a feeble attempt to reciprocate what he had done just seconds before. Her growing weakness made his foot sink further down onto the accelerator.

Suddenly, he heard sirens blaring from behind him. He groaned as he glanced into the rear view mirrors to see several black cars with flashing red and blue lights. He frowned. Those weren't regular high way patrol vehicles. One of the cars drove up on his right and he smiled when he saw Cabe behind the wheel. He squeezed Paige's hand again. They were getting a police escort.

Cars parted like the red sea for Walter, Cabe and the Homeland security. They sped to the hospital with no traffic at all.

Walter didn't bother parking. He had been counting down the each estimated second that Paige had before she would begin to die, at the rate that she had been bleeding. He knew Paige didn't have the time for that. Walter just stopped the car in front of the ER entrance and ran around to the passenger seat's door. He undid Paige's belt and slid an arm underneath her knees and behind her back, bringing her into the building as fast as he could without jostling her.

"We're at the hospital," he said to her as he approached the doors. "You're going to be ok. Everything's going to be ok." The second Walter stepped into the hospital, he began to scream. "Help! I need a doctor! She's been shot!"

Cabe ran in beside them. "Homeland security! We have an emergency!"

Nurses flooded them immediately and a stretcher appeared out of nowhere. He softly laid Paige on it. Her brown doe eyes were only cracked open. Walters hand flew back to hers, and he laced his fingers around hers.

A doctor arrived. "Cabe Gallo, Homeland Security." Cabe shook the doctors hand.

"Doctor Sayuri. Can you tell me what happened here?" Doctor Sayuri asked.

"I haven't gotten a chance to thoroughly examine it," Walter began to speak, his voice still rough and crackly. "An attacker broke in and shot her in the external oblique. She has no organ disruption as far as I can see, but she bled out for about six minutes before I was able to wrap the bandage and it was a ten and a half minute drive here." Walter said as the doctor pushed the stretcher down a hall and into an empty room. Walter's hand stayed wrapped around Paige's.

"I see you know your stuff. She looks like she's lost a lot of blood." The doctor looked up to a nurse who had just entered the room, giving her rapid fire orders. She nodded gravely and left the room. Walter had a quick head rush causing the doctor's words to blur so he couldn't understand them. He felt so dizzy and disoriented, had he not been firmly clasping Paige's hand, he may have fallen over.

When Walter's vision refocused, he noticed Paige was hooked up to some sort of IV. "Walter, are you doing alright?" Cabe asked from beside him. Walter ignored the question, secretly afraid of his answer.

He watched what seemed like hundreds of nurses flood in around him. Paige had grown more pale, a blue cast displayed on her cheek bones. The doctor started to press lightly on her stomach. Paige groaned, causing Walter's jaw to clench. Two more doctors entered the room. "Sir, I'm going to need to ask you to leave." One of them said firmly.

"No, that's not going to work. I can help." Walter pleaded, squeezing Paige's hand tighter.

"Sir, please." Doctor Sayuri looked to a nurse. "We're going to take her to surgery 2, now. Pierced intestine and bullet removal."

"Walter, we should go." Cabe muttered next to Walter, but he didn't dare let go of Paige's hand as she cried out again.

The nurse communicated that through a walkie talkie as they started to move the stretcher. Walter's heart started to race again. "Surgery?"

"Sir, please wait in the lobby."

"You can use my help. I have an IQ of 197."

"Security!" One of the nurses called.

"No! I can help! I'm smarter than any of you are! You need me!" Two men in security uniforms rushed into the hall. Walter swung at one of them. Had he been in a fully optimal state, he probably would had hit the man clean in the nose, like he had with Mark Collins. But he was weak, and the guard was strong and trained in combat for his career, and dodged Walter, catching his arm. They began to drag him by the arms out of the hall, in the opposite direction that Paige was going.

"Paige!" Walter called out, trying desperately to escape the men's grasp.

He heard loud beeping coming from her stretcher. "We're losing her!" One of the nurses yelled as everyone scrambled around her. She travelled further and further away, but the sound of frantic beeping stayed loud in Walter's head, mingling with his hammering pulse that rocketed in his ears.

"Paige!" Walter screamed again. He was hauled through glass doors that the officers locked before disappearing. Walter shook them desperately before slamming himself against the glass, watching the stretcher disappear around a corner, taking her with it. "Paige!"

_That's it, that's all! Walter is basically a hero in the episode. Hallelujah for adrenaline._

_I'm off to watch Love Boat now. As much as I appreciate and am entertained Happy and Toby's relationship, I still wish Paige and Walter were the focus. I know that would be greedy, though, and unlikely since the last two episodes were more focused on Waige than Quintis._

_ Anyhow, I'm rambling. I hope you guys liked this chapter! Please review! Any guesses on Paige's experience in the hospital? Will she make it? Or will something else horrible happen? ;)_


	13. Chapter 13

_Sorry this took so long to put up. School is really becoming a pain, especially with how crappy my semester two is._

_There's no drastic, heart-pounding cliff hanger at the end of this chapter. So, if you don't like those, congratulations! There are none for today. If you are one of the people who living on the edge of your seat (I myself am one) don't worry, more will be coming up soon._

_Disclaimer: I don't own Scorpion._

**Chapter** **13**

"Woah, woah, calm down there." Cabe pried Walter away from the glass. He panted heavily. "She's going to be fine." Cabe reassured him. "But we should really get that arm checked out.

"One of the nurses said they were losing her." Walter gasped, ignoring Cabe. His arm had long ago got numb so he hardly cared about it. All he could think about was the woman that had just disappeared down a hallway. Paige was _dying, _and it was Walter's fault. He could live with a hurt arm.

Just thinking about Paige and the likelihood of her demise made more adrenaline coursing through Water's veins. It prevented him from toppling from exhaustion or his injury which he stubbornly refused to acknowledge. More energy surged through him but he was trembling. He felt useless. He needed to do something, anything, to help Paige.

"She's going to be fine." Cabe repeated more firmly.

"But she's not!" Walter roared, stepping away from Cabe. Everyone in the ER waiting room stared at him silently. "Mark shot her because she was trying to protect me! It's my fault! She's going to die, and it's my fault!" Walter glanced at the ER desk. He quickly grabbed a mug full of pencils and threw it against the ground, desperate to relieve himself of his anger. People gasped as it exploded into millions of shards.

The man behind the desk pulled out a phone. "Security!" he called into it.

Cabe held out a hand, stopping him. "It's fine. I've got him." He grabbed Walter's arm. "Let's get you outside."

Walter sat down on the ground as soon as he stepped outside, dropping his head into his hands. It was night time, and the chilling night air cooled his skin. He hadn't realized how overheated his paranoia and adrenaline had made him.

"Hey, Walt." a familiar voice said. He looked up to see Happy, Sylvester and Toby standing next to Cabe. "We took care of your car," She offered, seeing how mad Walter was.

"Cabe called some cops to go haul Collins out of the garage. He's toast." Toby added. "Are you alright? What's with the bandage on your arm?"

"The bullet went through her external oblique." Walter ignored his friends and began to speak, staring hard at the ground. Facts. Walter just needed to state cold, hard, emotionless facts. "It hit her small intestine. She bled uninterrupted for six minutes, losing half a liter of blood. She lost about another half in the ten minutes it took to get here. She lost consciousness on her way to surgery. The bullet is still lodged in her." Walter looked up at his team that watched him nervously. Walter was still quivering, with both frustration and delayed exhaustion. He panted deeply. "Sylvester. What are her odds?"

The mathematician gulped. There was fear in his eyes making it apparent to everyone that he already knew the answer. "Walter..."

"Just tell me." Walter barked.

Sylvester flinched. "41% chance she makes a full recovery." He muttered.

Walter stood still, looking more emotionless and stoic than ever. Facts had always comforted Walter. They were solid and reliable, always 100% true. But with a 59% chance that Paige wasn't going to make it... Walter wasn't good with emotions, but he at least knew that he was angry, and very far from comforted.

"Where in the hell were you guys!" Walter exploded. "You knew that Collins was coming to kill me, or at least you should have known! But you all run off and leave Paige to deal with me? She's in there dying right now!" Walter pointed at the hospital.

"We thought we knew where Collins was hiding and we went to apprehend him." Sly said nervously. "But Paige called and told us Collins was in the garage and we rushed back as fast as we could. I'm sorry, Walter."

"Sorry isn't going to save her!" Walter roared. "Ralph could be motherless after tonight! All because you played right into Collins hands."

"Walter, you're taking this out on the wrong people." Cabe warned.

"All he'll have left is Drew." Walter continued. "They'll go to Portland. We'll never see him again. Paige will dead and Ralph will be gone, and..." Walter never finished because he suddenly ran up to a metal trash can underneath a lamppost and kicked it with all his might. It jarred his foot, but Walter was beyond caring. He felt weak. He had been down the rabbit hole and unable to help Paige, and now Paige was headed for surgery and there was nothing he could do to help, yet again. As one of the smartest human beings to ever exist, Walter hated feeling useless.

"Walter!" Cabe yelled.

"I needed you guys to come through for me!" Walter screamed. "I was in a moment of weakness. Collins had me trapped, and you practically handed me over to him! The only person who tried to help me is in there, dying!" Walter kicked the trashcan once more, forcing a dent into its side. He spun to face his team once more. "Some friends you are." he hissed.

"Walter." Cabe grabbed him by the shoulder. "There's nothing we can do but wait for her to come out."

Walter pushed him away. "No! I can't accept that. There's got to be something we could do." Walter paced in a circle, focussing his anger away so he could train his attention on the issue at hand. "Sylvester, if we can hack the security cameras and whatever intercoms allowing people to notify security of our presence. Happy, pull up a blue print of the hospital. If I can sneak in through a back entrance, we can locate Paige. They said they were bringing her into Surgery Room Two, so that won't be too hard to find, and-"

"And what?" Cabe interrupted. "What are you going to do? Sneak in there, slip into some scrubs and play doctor? The surgeons will be so focused on getting you the hell out of there, you'll be giving Paige more opportunity to slip away."

"Cabe's right. Even if for some reason you were able to operate, you are in no condition to even be standing, let alone perform surgery. Your hands are shaking so badly, you'd kill Paige for sure."

"They're right, I'd say there's a five percent chance that your plan would have an even slightly positive outcome." Sylvester added.

"We've had worse odds." Walter growled.

"Walter." Happy said. "We need to re-bandage your arm, it's getting worse. What did you do anyway?"

Walter looked down to his right arm, where blood had trailed out of his guaze covered wound. His blue shirt was slowly turning red. "Collins sunk a knife in me." Walter muttered.

"You were stabbed?" Toby exclaimed. "What the hell are you doing out here! We need to get that looked at, it could easily become infected or you could have permanent damage."

"I'm fine, my dominant arm is my left, anyways."

Toby gawked at him like he had two heads. "Who _are_ you? The Walter O'Brien I know would never be stupid enough to ignore a deep stab wound on the account of your dominant arm being fine. Are you still down the rabbit hole?"

"No. I'm fine, Toby, just let it go. We have to focus on Paige." However, as if on cue, when Walter said that black dots swarmed his eyes, clogging his vision. He stumbled backwards as he felt the right side of his body going limp.

"Walter!" He heard Sylvester exclaim. When the black dots flew away, he found Cabe and Sylvester holding him up. He roughly pushed them away.

"I'm fine. I'll be fine." Walter muttered, though he knew deep down he really wasn't. The familiar surge of adrenaline was slowly abandoning him, and the exhaustion he had been fighting off was claiming his body. He felt numb and weak everywhere. "I'm fine." He murmured one last time. Darkness absorbed his vision and he collapsed.

**/WEAKNESSES\**

Walter awoke in a pale white bedroom. Scratchy, unfamiliar blankets surrounded his body. A normal person may spend the first few moments awake pondering what happened, slowly leaving their shell of sleep. Walter wasn't normal. His highly functioning brain took less than a second to register everything. A new bandage was wrapped around his arm, thicker than his previous one. His exhaustion had completely disappeared from him.

Panic immediately fell upon him. He didn't know how long he had been asleep, but he didn't see Paige. He had to help her. He pried an IV out of his wrist, jolting up. An obnoxious beeping sound filled the room when he removed the IV, most likely notifying the doctors or nurses in the hospital.

He jumped out of the bed as people filled the room. Cabe and Happy entered, accompanied by a nurse. "Sir, you're going to have to sit down."

"No, I feel fine." Walter refused.

"Sir, I'm sorry."

Cabe sighed, flashing his Homeland Security badge. "Sorry, ma'am. Is there any way he can leave the bed, or is his condition too threatening to leave? He hasn't eaten in god knows how long, and I'd love to shove so ffod into him."

The nurse glanced at Walter. "You honestly feel fine?"

A fake smile spread across Walter's face. "Completely fine."

"I'd like him back in a few hours to be checked on." The nurse said uncertainly to Happy and Cabe.

"Don't worry. We won't be leaving any time soon." Happy said, looking at Walter. He frowned deeply. Paige was clearly still at the hospital.

Cabe and Happy led Walter to the waiting room where Toby and Sylvester were waiting. Laptops, jackets and other possessions were tossed over an entire row of seats, letting everyone know that Scorpion had claimed that section of the waiting room as their own. Walter noted that they all looked tired, wondering how long they had been waiting there. "How long was I asleep?"

"Just over twenty four hours." Happy replied.

Walter sighed, cursing to himself. He felt completely fine now, but not only had he missed the past two weeks of his life he had just lost another day of it. He felt so useless and weak. He had been useless to Scorpion for so long, and now he was also being useless to Paige, who had literally taken a bullet for him. With those two unfamiliar emotions gaining strength within Walter, he felt frustration bubbling inside.

Walter stared hard at the ground, silently seething. He had the most intellectually strong team in the world, and there they were, standing in a waiting room, leaving Paige's outcome to fate. The rest of the team noticed Walter's growing anger immediately.

"I don't think you've eaten anything in a while." Toby said, trying to calm the genius down. "Why don't we head down to the cafeteria, and blow off some steam?"

Walter nodded, not looking any of them in the eye. He was still angry with them for letting this entire mess happen in the first place while he was down the rabbit hole. Cabe and him walked to the cafeteria while the rest of Scorpion cautiously following. Toby and Happy exchanged looks, worried for their friends health as well as his temper. Sylvester was red in the face and took in shallow breaths, anxious as ever.

Cabe purchased them all food silently. Sylvester, Happy and Toby thanked him while Walter immediately isolated himself from them, finding a nice corner table in the cafe nestled next to a window. He stared out at the night sky and watched as the wind violently ripped at tree branches. He felt like randomly ripping things, too.

Happy sat across from him. Walter glanced at her, expecting a classical Happy speech about pulling his shit together, but she was already looking out the window. They sat there for a while, not speaking.

"I'm not here to falsely reassure you or any of that crap." Happy finally said.

Walter sighed, not wanting to speak. He was a fool to think , even for a moment, that Happy wasn't there to lecture him. He had done too many foolish things lately. He just wanted to mope and let the anger fester inside of him, uninterrupted.

"I'm here to talk about being angry, Walt." Happy continued. "I get it. You want to either rip your own hair out or rip out someone else's. I support being mad. Yell, scream, break things... I do it all the time. When things don't go your way, you get mad. But Collins breaking into the garage was not our fault, and it wasn't your fault either."

"Happy-" Walter tried to stop her.

"No. It wasn't your fault. You did everything you could to help her, and that's going to have to be good enough for you. But you need to get your act together and stop taking your anger out on us, because we did everything we could too."

She got up and walked to the table where the others were sitting. They had all been watching her little speech to Walter, but they all averted their eyes guiltily when she caught their stare. All except Toby of course, who held her eyes steadily until she sat in front of him and looked down to her food.

Cabe got up and brought a lunch tray to Walter and sat it in front of him. Walter looked up at him. "Where's Ralph?"

"He's been spending some late nights with Drew recently. He's been dying to see you though."

Walter nodded, but Cabe noticed his face go dark when he mentioned Drew. Cabe understood Walter's affection for Ralph better than anyone else. Walter and Ralph's relationship reminded him a lot of his nod with a younger Walter. He was more than happy to shift Walter's attention from Paige and to her son instead. "You're probably going to hear this later, so I may as well tell you now. Paige hasn't brought Ralph to the garage since you... Left."

Walter frowned deeply. "Why?"

"She thought it would be unhealthy for him to see you like that. The kid looks up to you. Paige knew it would shatter him if he realized his super hero had a kryptonite."

The faintest smile appeared on Walters lips at the thought of being Ralph's hero. He missed him. That smile vanished when he thought of how tomorrow he could wake up without a mom.

"She'll be fine." Cabe said firmly, almost reading Walters mind.

Walter pinched the bridge of his nose, sighing. "I hope so." He muttered.

Cabe nodded, silent for a minute. "How did you end up getting out of the rabbit hole?" He asked.

Memories of Paige clutching his face and sweetly kissing him flowed back to Walter. He hadn't even considered that moment since he found Paige dying on the garage floor. But now he had a second to... Paige had woken him up like that. But he didn't know what to think of that...Did Paige have feelings for him? If she was ok, would she be mortified to find out that he knew about the kiss? She had fled from him only seconds after it happened... Walter decided she wouldn't want him going around telling people about the moment they shared. Especially considering her predicament. "I woke up when I heard a gunshot in the garage." Walter finally answered, not looking at Cabe when he spoke. He was not a comfortable liar, but he did it anyways.

Cabe nodded again. "She'll be fine." He repeated sternly. "You need to eat something." He gave Walter a pointed look before he left to eat with the others.

Walter took a long pause to look at his food. His stomach growled longingly. He moaned a little as he took his first bite of a sandwich Cabe had bought him. He was starved from his expedition in 'wonderland'.

He involuntarily flipped through the memories he had of Paige forcing him to eat. She had been his saving grace long before Collins had broke into the garage.

There was another memory Walter replayed through his mind over and over. The distant feeling of wrestling with someone, then peeking out of the rabbit hole to see Paige straddling Walter's hips, breathing heavily. Their faces had been inches a part and their breath mingled in that sacred space between them.

The memory gave Walter a weird feeling, one that fueled another emotion that was all to familiar - guilt. Walter had let Paige down. He just prayed that he'd be able to make it up to her.

_That's all for now! I hope you guys liked that chapter, it was definitely longer that the past few ones I've put out. As I promised, this one ended with no dreadful cliff hanger. We still don't know how Paige is doing, though, but that'll be saved for the next chapter ;)_

_Please review! ! ! :)_


	14. Chapter 14

_Sorry again for the delay. School is absolutely ridiculous, and I have no time to edit these so I can update the story._

_This is a nice long, chapter. It ends with a bit of Waige fluff, but it's more of serious fluff. Sounds weird, I know, but you'll get it. I hope you all like it!_

_Disclaimer: I do not own Scorpion_.

**Chapter 14**

Walter wolfed down all of his food to quickly satisfy his neglected stomach. He spent the next thirty minutes staring out the window, trying to understand what the weird thing growing in the core of his stomach was.

At first he thought he was sick. Perhaps he should have been slow in eating, only eased food into him to adjust his stomach. He spent a minute planning his route to the bathroom in the event of his stomach's contents travelling back out his mouth.

Soon he realized he wasn't sick. But he still had that unsuitable feeling in his stomach. Walter soon noted that it got particulalarly unbearable when he thought about Paige.

Was it guilt? Walter had never been this guilty before. Guilt was a particularly gnawing, dreadful emotion he had always kept a good bottle neck on, much like all of his other emotions. But now he felt it at a fuller scale, and he felt sick, nauseous. What was wrong with him?

He finally discarded those uncomfortable, confusing thoughts and subdued the burning in his stomach to walk to the table his team sat at. They regarded him silently, clearly anxious to see what his reaction to them would be this time. Walter felt angry still, but decided not to act on it. "Anything on Collins?"

"He's in custody, but still unconscious." Cabe said. "You beat him pretty bad."

Walter nodded distantly. He felt a tiny bit better. "You were right to have him committed." Toby said. "That man wasn't just 'off of the rocker', he burnt it to the ground."

Walter stood silently for a moment, focusing again on supressing that weird, burning feeling in his stomach. When he was finally satisfied with it's decrease, he looked back to his team. "We should go to the waiting room in case there's news about Paige." Walter announced. The team nodded and cleaned up their lunch trays. Everyone thanked Cabe a final time for paying for their meals. Walter gave him a respectful nod before muttering "Thanks." Cabe beamed at him, well aware of his difficulties with manners and other 'normal' things. He had expected no thank you on normal days, but today was far from normal and he was still receiving one.

When Walter walked into the waiting room he noticing a red analog clock that hung above the entrance doors. He had apparently missed it in his earlier fit of anger. It read 2:27 in bright letters. Coupled with the dark, starry sky he had been staring at earlier through the window, Walter assumed it was early in the morning.

"Has someone called Drew so that he can let Ralph know what's going on?" Walter asked hesitantly. It was no secret that Drew was disliked. The only person who had any patience for him was Happy, oddly enough. Usually she was the one who immediately gave new people the cold shoulder.

"No..." Toby said.

"We let Ralph's babysitter know that she was… away for a little while. Drew was supposed to get back from a callback in Portland tonight." Sylvester reported.

Walter sighed and pulled out Paige's phone, still buried in his pocket. He found Drew's cell number and dialed it.

The phone rang for several seconds before Drew answered. "Paige?" his voice was gravelly and groggy.

"Actually, Drew," Walter sighed. He was beginning to regret this uncomfortable decision immediately "This is Walter."

"Walter?" Drew asked. "Why do you have Paige's phone? I thought you were in some weird coma of something."

"I was, but I'm awake now and I wanted to call and let you know that Paige is in the hospital." Toby winced at Walters words. He was quick in delivering bad news, and Toby knew very well that Normals never reacted well to that.

"What!" The drowsiness in Drew's voice melted away as concern quickly replaced it. "What happened? Is she ok?"

For some reason, Drew's concern for Paige made fury bubbling inside of Walter, like some kind of bizarre chemical reaction. He didn't give himself much time to ponder why. "She was...shot in her side. I don't know if she's ok, she went in for surgery and we're still waiting to hear from the doctor."

"She was shot?!"

"Yes." Walter answered dryly. Normals always needed things repeated for them to point of exhaustion.

"Who shot her!?"

"Someone broke into the garage and shot Paige when she tried to attack him."

"Oh my god..." Drew's voice drifted off and Walter prayed he wouldn't have anything particularly angry or snappy to say. But his voice returned, filled with anger. "I told her this job was a bad idea. Getting shot by a random trespasser? This is insanity!"

"It had nothing to do with Paige's job." Walter defended. He knew very well that Drew was threatened by some complicated situations Scorpion had been through. What annoyed Walter the most was that he was right - Paige and Ralph weren't as safe as Walter had hoped. He wished Drew had continued being a dead beat, uncaring dad and ex-husband. Walter hated him for both logical (he had left Ralph and Paige, he pursued something as fundamentally useless as baseball) and illogical (Walters anger had certainly raised since Drew's arrival) reasons. He wanted Drew to screw up, but the only one who had been doing the screwing up lately was Walter.

"What if Ralph had been in the garage? Where the hell were all of you braniacs, anyways?" Drew demanded.

"I was upstairs. I apprehended her attacker and brought her here, to the hospital."

"Shouldn't you have locks on the garage?"

"The attacker was a very smart man. He picked the locks easily."

Drew sighed and swore under his breath. "This is your fault. All of you are to blame for this. All you do is put Paige and Ralph in trouble. Paige has told me about going to Bosnia and hitting people with cars and bombs... Ralph was arrested for Christ's sake! This needs to end."

"Drew, our job is to ensure the safety of the country. We've been in a few tight spots but Paige has come out of them fine. Someone could break into your home right now, and all you are is some washed out has-been, if even that. It happens, unfortunately, regardless of career."

Drew was silent for a moment, which Walter took as a pleasant change from when he was talking.

"I'm going to wake Ralph up and head over to the hospital. Which one are you at?"

"No, let him sleep. We're here. You have to be there and watch over him, since you're a _parent_. Bringing him here will only stress him out, especially since it's almost 3 am."

"Fine. I want you to call and update me, though, Walter." Drew hesitated, sighing again. "Thank you for calling and letting me know."

Walter hung up the phone. He felt weak, and it wasn't a feeling he enjoyed. The strange biting in his stomach resurfaced, stronger than ever. He felt weak again, and in the mood to kick the crap out of an inanimate object. He looked up and saw Toby looking at him disapprovingly, ever the psychologist.

"Walk with me to go get coffee." Toby said quickly, standing up.

"We were in the cafeteria like ten minutes ago." Walter said dryly. "You didn't get a coffee then?"

"You can never have too much coffee." Toby said.

Walter disagreed, but knew that Toby didn't actually need a coffee. He wanted to talk to him, or distract him from the woman who was undergoing surgery at that very moment. Walter was grateful for a distraction.

They slowly walked through the hallway. There was no rush to get to the coffee or sit back in the waiting room for another few hours. Toby was the first one to speak. "How'd you get out?"

Images flashed in front of Walter's eyes. He remembered the feeling of Paige's lips pressed against his own before the cocoon of the numbers the rabbit hole supplied was ripped from him. _Stay here._ The pain in his stomach grew stronger. "The gunshot." Walter lied, not looking at Toby when he spoke in fear his lie would be detected.

Toby nodded. "We've all missed you, buddy. None of us could even go near you. You wrote on everything, and we were scared we'd just follow you down the rabbit hole. I feel like I haven't seen you in a month."

"I'm sorry that this happened again." Walter said.

"Not your fault. Collins played us well, but we got him in the end."

"But did we really?" Walter asked. He stopped in the middle of the hallway. "He shot Paige, and she's now in emergency surgery. She might not make it. He rendered me useless for weeks and shut down the entire company. Who knows when I would have snapped out of it of he hadn't shot Paige!" Walter's voice raised as he spoke. People gave him strange looks as they passed by.

"I know when. About sixteen hours ago. Probably around nine or ten am. Because you're wrong Walter. Scorpion managed fine, Paige is most certainly not going to die and we found a way to get you out of the rabbit hole."

Walter frowned in confusion. They couldn't have possibly known what a strong effect Paige's lips had on him. "Look, two days ago Paige was trying to force you into sleeping, and somehow she managed to fall asleep on top of you."

Walter's memory livened at the mention of that moment. It played like a film in his mind. He remembered waking up with sunlight streaming softly into his room through his blinds. It cast bright patterns onto a sleeping person - a person who was sleeping on top of him.

Paige was warm and breathing softly. Her cheek was pressed to the center of his chest and her long hair was splayed down the side of his torso. Both of her arms were stretched upwards, and her left fingers were slipped between his right fingers. He had one arm strewn across her back, like he had placed it there in his sleep to hold her closer to him.

Paige was a gorgeous woman. No one would ever deny that. But to see her sleeping was a beauty beyond her everyday composure. She was consumed by peace. It made Walter feel strangely peaceful too.

Walter wanted to lie there until she woke up, but felt a certain 'morning glory' threatening to arrive. He had slowly slid out from underneath her.

Walter then lifted Paige's sleeping body gently. She didn't weigh as much as Walter expected, but he didn't know what he had expected... He pulled back the covers, laid Paige on her back and slid them back up to her shoulders.

He watched her for a few minutes before he left his bedroom. He frowned at his chalkboard, and felt the math consume him.

"But when she woke up, she was on her back with the covers over top of her." Toby continued, snapping Walter out of his memories. "Because you woke up and did that before you saw the equation again when you left your room and fell back down the rabbit hole."

"I remember." Walter said.

"She woke you up! All she had to do was sleep with you-"

"Fall asleep beside me." Walter stiffly corrected Toby.

Toby smiled widely. Paige had been just as quick to correct the geniuses when they were discussing the newfound cure. "You were out, just like that." Toby snapped his fingers. "It took Happy months to pry you away from your precious rabbit hole, and two days ago you deeper down than any of us have ever seen before, but when you woke up beside Paige you snapped out of it easily."

"What's your point?" Walter asked.

"My point is that we can get you out now. Paige was like some sort of cure that we were going to use last night before Collins pranced in and blew all of our plans up."

"You say that with the assumption that Paige is fine. We don't even know if she's _alive_, Toby." Walter said, his voice gradually rising again.

"But I have another point..." Toby continued, ignoring Walter's potential outburst. Smugness grew across the shrink's face. "Which is more like a question that I think I already know the answer to..."

Walter stopped in his tracks. He faced Toby, saw his smugness and quickly went rigid. "Toby." he warned.

"What exactly do you feel for Paige, Walter?"

Walter felt immediately uncomfortable by the question. "I hardly think this is an appropriate topic considering Paige's current condition."

"I disagree completely. Paige endangered her life for you. She was brave in the face of a crazy ass sociopath hell bent on your murder. The least you could do is respect that instead of being cowardly in the face of a harmless question."

"I'd hardly call it harmless." Walter growled. Hadn't Toby brought him away from the others to calm him down? Instead, Walter was becoming more livid than before.

"It is. It's an easy question."

"You know damn well it isn't. Why would you ask me something like that? Are you trying to make me angry?" The awfulness in the pit of his stomach grew hotter than ever, but another emotion was entwined with it. Was it… fear? No, that was ridiculous. Walter O'Brien didn't feel fear.

"Walter, I know that if I woke up one morning and found Happy bleeding on the floor because she had tried to engage an attacker who was trying to murder me, I would be going crazy right now. And I know and accept my feelings for her. You denying what you feel for Paige is only adding confusion to the complete mess of emotions that her sacrifice is making you feel right now. You probably hate me for asking you EQ related questions, but I know how the human emotions work. I want to lighten the weight on your shoulders."

"I don't have emotions."

"Bullshit! Your emotions might be minuscule compared to a normal individual, but they exist none the less. And they are stronger now, I'm sure, because you just emerged from the rabbit hole and someone you care about was brutally injured. Your EQ is out to play, so let it. Answer the question."

Walter was silent for a few moments. Toby was right. Walter did feel things for Paige, but they were difficult to understand, and even harder to articulate "I remember waking up with her, asleep on top of me." Walter said fiercely. He wrung his hands anxiously. "I felt something. An emotion, stronger than any other time my EQ had been present. And I'm afraid that I'm never going to feel like that again, if she's gone." Walter walked away from Toby, straight into a men's bathroom.

He washed his hands, trying to slow his pulse down. When he thought about Paige, he got angry. He got angry at Collins, he got angry at himself, angry at his team and angry at his emotion.

Walter began to think hard, focusing on supressing the guilt welling up in him. He needed to think analytically, train his mind on cold hard facts and squeeze truth out of them. He wanted to know what the hell was going on with him that his… dare he say _'feelings_' were so crazy.

He thought about Toby's words. His EQ was supposedly out to play… of course. In Walter's emotionally fueled stupidity, he had failed to see it. Because of his abrupt escape from the rabbit hole, mixed with the shock from seeing Paige dying, his EQ was awake.

It had happened to Walter before, decades ago. Incredibly traumatic accounts coupled with the rabbit hole caused a brief explosion of emotion inside of him. It had died down in a few days, of course, then Walter returned to his same, still-faced, stoic self.

However, Walter could recall memories from his last EQ excursion, and it was far from pleasant. Emotions were foreign and very unwelcome. He had vowed to never let them return to him, even if he only experienced them in short bursts.

Walter slammed his fists against the bathroom counter. He had promised not to go back down the rabbit hole. But he had, and now he had temporary EQ and Paige was somewhere in the hospital, dying. Everything was crumbling apart.

**/WEAKNESSES\**

Walter had been watching the clock for so long, its analog numbered had been burnt into his eyeballs. The rest of the team had drifted to sleep, each in awkward positions in their uncomfortable waiting room chairs, but Walter was wide awake.

He was waiting for the minutes to change. Walter wasn't quite sure why. Maybe he was so focused on a change occurring with Paige, he had decided to depend on something that was relied upon to change; the numbers on the clock.

But time seemed to be running slow to Walter. He grew suspicious that the clock was faulty, and soon began counting out sixty second between the interval of each minute. He had been at his counting since 4:12 am. It was now 6:51.

Before the others had drifted into their individual slumbers, they had all had their attempts to persuade Walter to sleep. Walter refused, but he doubted he'd be able to even if he were willing. There was too much EQ stirring in him, in the form of the clawing within his stomach. It was exhausting just to suppress it.

Walter immediately recognized doctor Sayuri as he strode into the waiting room. He jumped from his seat and walked up to him.

"Doctor Sayuri." Walter greeted him.

"You're here with Paige Dineen, correct?" Walter nodded. "You'll be happy to hear that her surgery was a success. It was a bit nerve racking, she lost a lot of blood and needed several transfusions, but she pulled through. She's still unconscious, but you're welcome to see her if you'd like."

Walter looked to his sleeping team. Happy had fallen asleep next to Toby. His hand laid across her thigh, a sure sign that it had dwelt there while they were still conscious. Cabe's head was stretched back, and he snored softly in the seat next to where Walter had sat. Sylvester sat beside Cabe. He had actually fallen asleep applying hand sanitizer, with the bottle cracked open, still in his hands.

Should Walter wake them? Over the hours, his anger towards them had died. He could understand that they were worried too, and had suffered while Walter was in the rabbit hole. They deserved a break.

Walter left them in the waiting room and followed doctor Sayuri into a room labeled 103. It was an extremely plain room. The walls were a pale pastel blue and white. A single window hid behind thin white blinds. There was a white chair next to a plain white bed. The only colour in the room came from Paige's beautiful brown-honey colored hair that fanned out behind her head.

Walter stood in the doorway, just staring at her. There were purple crescents underneath her closed eyes, and she was startlingly pale. Her chest rose and fell slowly, and a machine beeped softly next to her. There were tubes up her nostrils, delivering her oxygen, as well as three IV's in her arms.

Walter sat in the chair next to Paige's bed, dragging it up so he was close to her. He watched her for a few minutes. She was here because of him. All the tubes that encircled her body, the lack of familiar blush in her cheeks, her unseeing, almost permanently closed eyes… they were all Walter's doing. It was all his fault.

Walter felt bizarrely calm. He had expected extreme frustration upon seeing Paige in such a fragile state, but instead his anger was gone while he watched Paige sleep. Emotions, fresh from his departure from the rabbit hole, were still rampant within him, but they no longer buzzed with anger. Instead there was a strange sadness and guilt in him that was mingled with the satisfaction of seeing Paige safe and alive. The gnawing feeling had grown, verging on becoming unbearably painful.

Walter awkwardly entwined his fingers with Paige's. He didn't know why he did it. Maybe to comfort him or maybe he thought it would comfort Paige. Maybe his EQ had moved his hand around hers. Or maybe, just maybe, he did it for no purpose other than to feel her soft skin resting against his. No matter the reason, Walter found strange relief in the feeling of her small, frail fingers wrapped around his. The gnawing, burning sensations that had accompanied his newfound EQ dissipated in seconds.

Walter thought for a moment. Toby had said Paige was some sort of cure. Walter had thought that was ridiculous before, but he had spent hours struggling with the pain that his EQ had brought him, yet all he had to do was hold Paige's hand and it was instantly eradicated. It was a bizarre antidote, one that made Walter feel uncomfortable and peaceful all at once.

The mere concept of Paige as a 'cure' was strange. But that's exactly what she had just done; cured the weakness that his EQ had brought him.

Walter leaned back in his chair. He meant only to close his eyes for a second, but he had no reason to stay awake any longer. He was where he needed to be, so he fell asleep in an instant.

_Huh. Funny, isn't it, how the story is called Weaknesses, and Paige seems to be the cure for all of Walter's weaknesses? Hmmmm_

_Anyways, I hope you guys liked this chapter! Paige is alive. I haven't killed her (yet ;))_

_For those of you craving conflict and more drama within this story (I understand you completely) it's coming. _

_Please review! Reading what you guys think of my story is one of my precious few relievers for the plethora of stress that school is drowning me with. Anyways... I'm going to try to be quicker with my update next time._


	15. Chapter 15

_I'm so sorry that this took so long. School has gotten the better of me, but I promise that I'm going to try to post much more often._

_I just went on a cruise in the Caribbean, for March Break, so I wasn't able to post then either. But on the drive to our dock I managed to write most of the next three chapters out, including this one. So when I promise to post more often I mean it._

_Thank you for still following me faithfully even though I haven't been the best author. I really appreciate all of you, and I'm excited to make up for the long time I unfortunately neglected to post._

_I won't say anything else, since I don't want to extend the long wait for this chapter any further. I really hope you enjoy it!_

When Walter woke up, two more chairs had been pulled up to the opposite side of Paige. Walter rubbed his eyes with his free hand; his other was still captivated in Paige's grasp.

In the other chairs sat one of Walter's favourite people in the world, and someone quite the opposite to that; Ralph and Drew. Ralph grinned when he registered Walter's coherency. They hadn't seen each other in weeks.

"You're awake!" Ralph smiled. "Mom said you've been sleeping for two weeks, like some sort of humane hibernation, but I told her that was impossibly uncharacteristic for human beings. Unless she was referring to comas, but she said that wasn't what she meant."

"Well, something of that sort did happen, though I wasn't quite asleep." Walter grinned at Ralph. Seeing his young friend after the weeks he spent in the rabbit hole made him feel much better.

Walter glanced at Drew, but Drew's wasn't looking at Walter. His eyes were dark as he glowered at Walter's hand that sat tenderly wrapped around Paige. He looked characteristically upset, but hurt and confused also. He gave Walter a respectful nod when he noticed him staring. Walter, of course, did not return it. He didn't have the social awareness to know that a Normal might consider it rude to not return something as simple as a nod. Walter just stared at Drew as another rabbit hole memory raced through his head.

_"Where's Paige?" Walter remembered asking. It was one of the rare moments that he had spoken._

_"On a date with baby daddy of the year." Toby had replied. "It's a shame that you had to go down, Walt. I think if you were still around, she wouldn't have gone. Now, she might just end up going to Portland with him. You could wake up without Paige or Ralph."_

_Walter remembered the equations and math that had been ubiquitous in his mind momentarily thinning so he could process Toby's words. A date? Paige was going to Portland? Walter thought she wasn't going to go._

_"I heard they're going to that Vincelli place, too." Toby had continued. "That is __fancy__. I bet he even rented a fancy hotel room for afterwards. Let's hope they remember a condom this time, though, huh?" _

_After that, Walter remembered a continuous sound of shattering chinaware until Paige's voice rang out. "Stop!"_

_Walter had loved the dress. It was beautiful and looked as though it was made for Paige's svelte figure. But he what he had really been gawking at for that brief moment of clarity and reality was the woman in the dress._

Walter snapped back to the present. He had ruined Paige and Drew's date while he was in the rabbit hole. He smiled again, his eyes still on Drew's. At least he had done something right while he was down there.

"Why don't we go get some lunch, huh?" Drew left Walter's now-uncomfortable gaze to look at his son.

Ralph nodded. "Can Walter come?"

"I'll join you in a little bit." Walter promised. The boy nodded again, and him and Drew left the room.

Walter watched Paige for a few minutes. He first studied her face. Her cheeks held more scarlet colour. She no longer looked like she was dying, but merely sleeping. He then examined their hands, still woven together.

The last time Walter had held the hands of another woman was the first month he had been dating his previous girlfriend. He didn't understand the appeal behind it. He still didn't, but it was different. Before he didn't understand it because he didn't feel anything. Now he experienced a strange, addictive feeling in the pit of his stomach, but he still didn't understand why.

His thoughts were interrupted when Doctor Sayuri stepped in. The interruption was most appreciated; Walter didn't like things he didn't understand. "I see you're still here." The doctor said with a friendly smile. Walter nodded. "Did your friends see you? They came in here a little while ago."

"They went to go get breakfast." Walter said simply, desperate to learn about Paige's condition. "So how's she doing?"

"She's stable. Her surgery had a few bumps," The doctor surveyed the machines Paige was hooked up on. "But it seems that she's done well at overcoming them. She should wake up in the next few hours."

Walter nodded, and the doctor left. His own stomach started grumbling, and he finally mustered up the confidence to release Paige's hand.

Happy, Sylvester, Toby and Cabe were already in the cafeteria talking amongst themselves while Drew and Ralph ordered food. Walter strode up to them.

"Good morning, sleeping beauty." Toby lilted sarcastically.

"How long have Drew and Ralph been here?" Walter asked, ignoring Toby.

"Couple hours." Happy said. "He was not happy when he arrived, though. He was flipping out over Paige getting hurt."

"In front of Ralph?" Walter frowned.

"We pulled him out of the way so he wouldn't have to watch." Sylvester assured him. Sylvester was looking pretty pale himself.

"You doing alright?" Walter asked him.

"I'm almost out of hand sanitizer." Sly admitted. He had thought of his chance of getting every single disease, bacteria and virus that could be floating about in the hospital and the odds were definitely not in his favour.

"Well, the doctor told me that Paige should be up within a few hours, so we'll be out of here soon." Walter reassured him. He paused, his eyes training onto the tiled flooring. "Thank you for sticking around and waiting for Paige and I."

"Of course." Sylvester said simply as he furiously scrubbed his hands together. "We're a family. A cyclone."

Walter stared distantly at the ground as his thoughts inevitably returned to Paige. Toby took the opportunity to gawk at him. Had Walter really just thanked them? He had trouble thanking them during missions when they were doing world-altering, life-changing important things. The Walter O'Brien that Toby knew would never be bothered to thank them for something like going to the hospital. Toby decided against saying anything to the genius, but reminded himself to keep his observation noted.

"I'm going to grab some food, I'm starved." Walter said. "I left my wallet in the garage… can I borrow some money?"

Cabe handed him a few bills and Walter stood in line to order a sandwich for his breakfast. While he waited, Ralph jogged over to sit with the other geniuses. Drew followed reluctantly, obviously uncomfortable sitting with a group of people he hardly knew. Walter joined them, sitting beside Ralph.

After Ralph happily told everyone that his mom was going to be fine, he excitedly shared details about his adventures with the calculus textbook the team had purchased him. He fished it out of his bag when he finished eating, sparking a long debate between Walter, Sylvester and Ralph.

Walter was grateful for the distraction. After he had just spent two weeks hidden in a shell of physics and math, looking over calculus work felt like home to him. It got his mind off of Paige.

However, is his discussion with Ralph and Sylvester, he failed to notice the heated glare he was receiving from Drew. Happy and Cabe were chatting calmly amongst themselves, so they didn't notice either. The only person who was observant enough to feel the fire lurking behind Drew's eyes was Toby.

After Drew and Ralph bid the others good bye, and Toby was quick to turn to Walter. "What did you do?" Toby asked.

Walter frowned at him. "What?"

"When Drew came in this morning he was concerned. Slightly frustrated, but mostly concerned. When he sat down here, he was flat out enraged and spent the entire time staring holes into the back of your skull. You had to have done something."

Walter shrugged. "I did nothing." He said plainly. "I hardly spoke a word to him."

"Did you do or say something to Ralph that could have been derogatory?" Toby demanded. Walter shook his head. "What about Paige? Did you make any comments about Paige?"

"I said nothing to him. I only talked to Ralph."

"When he came into Paige's room, how was he?" Toby pressed further.

"I was asleep."

"When you woke up?"

"He was…" Walter hesitated as he thought back. Drew had seemed furious about something. "He seemed angry."

"Leave him alone, doc." Happy growled at Toby.

"No, no, I'm sure I'm onto something." Toby said. "What were you doing that could have made him angry?"

"I did nothing." Walter said firmly.

"He was hooked up to a machine just over 24 hours ago, Toby. Quit the interrogation." Cabe said gruffly.

Toby finally shut his mouth, temporarily defeated, but stared at Walter hard. Walter was still the same stoic genius as always, but he was slightly worried the Toby might find out that it was Paige's kiss that had woken him up from the rabbit hole, not a gunshot. He wasn't sure if Paige would want people to know what had actually happened… he wasn't sure if _he_ wanted people to know. He didn't even know what to think of any of it, and he certainly didn't need Toby adding to his confusion.

After the team finished eating, Walter quickly cleared his lunch tray. "I'm going down to Paige's room. I want to be there when she wakes up." He announced.

Toby raised his eyebrows as the team obediently followed. Sylvester and Happy had left sometime during the night and brought a box of Super fun guy comics, so they all crowded around and grabbed one, and lounged in various chairs around Paige's resting body.

Everyone except Toby, that was. He was still in psychology mode. He spent a minute examining the room with calculated eyes before he called Walter outside.

"What is it?" Walter asked, impatient to return to Paige's room.

Toby led Walter to a hallway outside of the waiting room. He already knew the answer to his question, but was eager to see Walter's response. "Were you holding Paige's hand?" He demanded.

Walter's mouth hung open for a second before he instantly reclaimed her rigid, genius-like composure. "What?" He asked, doing his best to seem confused.

"You are a _terrible _liar." He said. "You fell asleep holding her hand." Walter opened his mouth to spit out another denial, but Toby quickly interrupted him. "Every patient I've seen who's unconscious has their hands underneath the blankets. The nurses set it up that way, I guess. Paige has one hand outside of the covers reaching towards where a chair was set up. I doubt she moved it in her sleep, because the rest of her hasn't moved a bit. The only way her hand could have moved is if someone _else_ moved it."

Walter sighed and began rubbing the bridge of his nose. He knew that he was trapped and began feeling awkward. "Toby…" he sighed.

"On top of that there's an impression on the bed next to Paige's hand. It's shaped like an arm, and conveniently is placed so it leads to the chair that was beside her bed when we came in."

Walter stared uncomfortably at the ceiling. "Toby," He warned.

"Finally, when you came into the cafeteria, you had markings on your forearm that you get when you put pressure on your skin while sleeping. The markings were the same as the floral pattern on the bed sheets."

"Toby." Walter said firmly. "I get it. You got me. Can we go back inside now?"

"What were you doing holding her hand? You really do feel something for her, don't you?" Toby didn't bother to try and hide the awe in his voice.

Walter didn't answer. He glared at Toby for a few seconds before walking back into Paige's room. Toby stood motionless for a couple minutes before he followed. Walter O'Brien, holding a girls hand… Toby smirked to himself. Walter was changing.

**/WEAKNESSES\\**

Hours passed. The team filtered in and out of Paige's room, each taking turns to stare at her and wait desperately to finally see her brown eyes. No one would say it, but they all knew something was wrong.

At 4:00, Ralph and Drew returned from Ralph's school. Ralph, as per usual, was stoic in a genius-like fashion. But when he saw his mother still lying in her bed, eyes closed, the small fraction of the emotion he did display died.

Drew frowned as he glanced around the room. People lounged in assorted chairs, adorning dark circles beneath their eyes and shattered frowns. Paige hadn't moved; her heart rate monitor still continued at a steady pace, but her eyes were shut and separate from the living world. Finally Drew spoke the words that everyone had been thinking. "Why hasn't she woken up yet?"

Walter shifted uncomfortably in his chair. He had spent the past hours in that chair, leaving only a few times to visit the restroom. He had read all the super fun guy comics Sylvester had brought. All he could focus on now was the gnawing feeling in his stomach that had returned. With each minute that Paige remained unconscious in her bed, he felt worse.

"The doctor told Ralph and I that she would wake up in a few hours before we left." Drew said loudly, demanding an answer. "That was ten hours ago."

"It was actually eight hours and fifty three minutes." Walter grumbled stiffly.

Drew narrowed his eyes. "The exact time hardly matters, Walter. What matters is that she hasn't woken up. What's wrong with her?"

No one had answers. They had been asking the same question themselves. Walter stared hopelessly at Paige for a few seconds before he stood up. He strode past Drew and out of the room without saying a word.

Walter asked the receptionist where Paige's doctor was. She sent him to one of the upper floors, where she said Doctor Sayuri would be finishing up his break shortly. Walter spent five minutes leaning against the wall outside the doctor's lounge before he finally walked out.

"Doctor Sayuri." Walter greeted him. "I'm Walter O'Brien, here with Paige Dineen on the bottom floor."

Walter followed the doctor as he continued walking down the hallway. Doctor Sayuri nodded. "Yes, I recognize you."

"Earlier you told us she would wake up within a few hours. It's been almost nine hours, and she hasn't even stirred." Walter continued.

Doctor Sayuri frowned. "Thanks for letting me know. That's unusual. Have you noticed her heart rate go up?"

"No."

"Well, I have to visit a patient right now." Doctor Sayuri stopped by a door to finish speaking to Walter. "But as soon as I'm done I'll come down and check on her. Could you please have the room vacated by the time I come down?"

**/WEAKNESSES\\**

Walter, Drew, Ralph and the rest of Scorpion spent the next two hours waiting in the waiting room. Anxiety was thick in the air as each minute passed with no news of Paige's condition. Thousands of horrible theories for Paige's condition had flown through Walter's head, to the point that he felt ill. He had occupied himself for the past twenty minutes chatting with Ralph about physics and other academic things.

Sylvester, Happy Toby and Cabe were talking amongst themselves. Cabe had no work for the day and was kind enough to spend it with the team. Drew had been half-heartedly entertaining a dwindling conversation with Ralph until Walter and Ralph had begun their scholarly debate. Drew had spent the rest of the time alternating between his cell phone and glaring at the back of Walter's head, unknowingly under the patronizing and protective gaze of Cabe and Toby.

When Doctor Sayuri appeared behind the glass doors and strode into the room, everyone stood up at once except for Ralph. Ralph looked up at him with wide eyes.

"So?" Drew walked up to the doctor while Walter stood next to Ralph. "How is she?"

Doctor Sayuri sighed. There were deep and exhausted creases weighing his mouth down so it sat in a frown. His eyes heavily dragged across the room until they sat still on Ralph. "I don't think this would be good for Ms. Dineen's son to hear."

Walter felt his heart thud faster in his heart. That wasn't good. If the news was good, the doctor would have been eager to share it with Ralph. Both Walter and Drew stood rigidly, too shocked and frightened to react.

"Hey, Ralph, I'm starved." Happy jumped in, walking up to the small boy. Walter felt instantly gratefully for her ability to act quickly, regardless of the predicament. "Want to grab some dinner with me?"

"That sounds like a good idea." Sylvester added as he nervously twisted his hands. "I think I'll come too."

"I'll tag along too." Toby said quickly. "I've got a bit of cash on me, so I'll pay."

The three geniuses quickly ushered Ralph out of the waiting room. Cabe, Walter and Drew turned to face Doctor Sayuri.

"I'm afraid I have some bad news."

_Cliff hanger! Mwahahahahaha… For those of you who thought that Paige was going to be fine, I just gave myself ample opportunity to get rid of her again..._

_Reviews are always extremely welcome and appreciated! Thanks for reading!_


	16. Chapter 16

_Here it is... I don't have much to say before hand, so I'll just let you get to it._

_Disclaimer: I do not own Scorpion_

**Chapter 16**

Doctor Sayuri stood in front of all three men with a serious expression mirroring theirs. "I'm sorry to have to tell you this. We just confirmed that Miss Dineen is officially comatose."

Cabe and Drew's jaws both dropped. "What?" Drew sputtered.

Walter said nothing having difficulty processing the information. He pictured a standard, comatose patient, one that you might find in a medical textbook. Eyes closed in eternal sleep. Then he pictures Paige... She was always so vibrant, so astoundingly alive. She had a smile that Walter had conjured up in his mind thousands of times and wide doe eyes that were bright with life.

Comas and Paige... They didn't mix. It was unnatural to even picture the two mixing.

"I'm sorry, I know this is hard to hear." Doctor Sayuri rushed to say. "We expected her to wake fourteen hours after surgery. It's been almost two days. I called down Doctor James Phillips, a specialist in comas and catatonic states, and we analyzed her condition and came to the conclusion that Paige is in a coma."

"How bad is it? What did she score on the GCS?" Walter asked swiftly, snapping out of his uncharacteristic shock and back into genius mode.

"3 out of 15." The doctor admitted gravely.

"I'm sorry, the GSC?" Drew asked.

"GCS. Glasgow Coma Scale." Walter explained. "It determines how much brain activity a person has by observing reactions to speech, motor control or ability and eye use. High scores indicate more brain activity and better chances for positive outcome."

"Unfortunetely, Paige scored a very low score. The lowest possible score is three, which was Paige's results." Doctor Sayuri concluded.

"Any idea what the causes are, doctor?" Cabe asked.

"We did a blood test. Paige had an allergic reaction to the anesthesia we gave her for surgery. Allergies to anesthesia are very rare, so it took us by surprise, and because of the anesthesia itself she displayed not outward symptoms. She woke up once during the surgery, so we gave her a larger dose of the anesthesia...we think it may have caused inflammation in her brain which has put her in her vegetative state. That, combined with her blood loss could have easily lead to coma."

"She was allergic to the anesthesia?!" Drew exclaimed. "Didn't you read her file or something! You should have known that!"

"It wasn't in her file. Either it wasn't recorded or Paige never knew." the doctor replied calmly. "I looked further into her medical history and found this was her first surgery. There was no way of knowing, or preparing her for this beforehand since it was an emergency operation."

"Keep your voice down. I don't want to chance Ralph hearing this, and you shouldn't either." Walter growled at Drew. His heart was thudding a million times a minute but one of his main priorities was Ralph.

Drew's mouth tightened into a thin line, clearly annoyed to hear Walter say something so sensible. "I'm sorry, doctor. I'm just... Shocked. She will wake up, right?"

Doctor Sayuri hesitated. Walter felt his heart leap forwards slamming hard against his rib cage. The gnawing feeling in his stomach appeared, more vicious than ever before. "Our specialist and I aren't sure. She seems to be very far into her coma, and her situation, due to her unique circumstances... Dr. Phillips said to give it another 48 hours. If shes not awake by then, the chance of her waking within the next year are less than ten percent."

"The next year?" It was Walter turn to yell. He quickly shunned himself.

"I'm afraid so. But it gets worse..." The doctor sighed and rubbed his eyes in defeat. "Doctor Phillips has had experience with anesthesia allergies before, so he was very thorough with his examination with Paige. He said that if she doesn't wake up or improve at all in two weeks time... Her chances of ever waking up will be approximately 3%."

Walter just stood there. He didn't believe what he was hearing. That couldn't be right. Those doctors were just normals, they had to have made a mistake. This couldn't be happening.

"In the mean time, we're transferring Paige to the ICU. You're welcome to set yourself up in that waiting room, or her room, for that matter, once the move is made. I'll let you know once shes in her new room." Doctor Sayuri offered a small smile in apology and promptly left.

Walter's head was spinning. He walked towards the exit with such little speed it looked like he was wading in molasses. Walter felt like he was drowning.

"Walter-" Cabe said, grabbing Walters sleeve. Walter twisted his arm away from him.

"I just need some fresh air. Please." He murmured. The biting sensation scorching the inside of his stomach had grown incredibly. He felt like he might puke out whatever demon was clawing at the inside of him at any second.

Walter trudged outside. He stood in the middle of the side walk, staring forwards.

Facts were the ground on which Walter stood on. Math and science were the answers and the fundamentals of the universe. But 10% in two days... A 3% chance of ever waking up in two weeks... Walter felt as though the ground had disappeared beneath him and the earth had swallowed him whole. He was feeling such wild things, he could barely stand up straight. Paige was in a coma. Paige was is a coma and it was his fault.

Why couldn't he just stay out of the rabbit hole? Paige could never wake up again, and it was all because Walter went down again. Why did couldn't he have just kept his promise?

Walter became very angry very fast. He knew why he had gone down the rabbit hole. Mark Collins, that was why. LA central prison, that's what Cabe had said yesterday.

Walter ran inside and snatched Paige's car keys out of her bag. "Walter?" Cabe asked uncertainly. But Walter didn't answer. He quickly fled the building.

Walter used Paige's GPS to quickly locate the prison. Still seething, he took more than a few risks with the road and sped all the way there. His hands shuddered as anger had completely consumed him. The awful burning in his gut only spurred him on.

When he reached the prison, the car shrieked as he jerked into the parking spot. Walter hardly gave himself two seconds to leap out of the car. He knew that he would only have minutes until the others tracked Paige's phone down to the prison and hauled him out.

He strode quickly up to the front desk. "I need to see Mark Collins."

The woman behind the desk smiled apologetically. "I'm sorry, visiting hours are only from 9-4 on weekdays. You can come back tomorrow."

"No," Walter growled. "I need to see him now."

The woman's smile faded. "I'm sorry, but you'll have to come back tomorrow."

"No!" Walter exclaimed. "I have to see him now. She's in a coma!" he slammed his fists on the desk. The woman jumped, rapidly pulling a phone to her ear.

"Security!" she called out frantically.

Walter just grew angrier. "No, you dont understand. He almost killed her because she was protecting me. Now she wont wake up." Walter furiously tried to explaine, but the woman behind the desk backed away from the glass dividing them.

A hand grabbed at Walters arm. Walter didn't waste a second I look at his attacker, he just swung. His fist connected with the security officers nose.

"You need to let me see him!" Walter placed his palms against the glass separating him from the secretary. She crouched away from him.

"Walter!" Cabe's familiar voice rang out from behind him. The security guard grabbed at Walter again. Walter spun around and lunged at him, throwing them both on the ground.

He slammed his fist into the security officers nose while pinning him to the floor. Blood spurted from his nose. Walter felt a minuscule wave of relief flow through him, but it wasn't enough. He needed to find Mark.

"Walter!" he heard Cabe yell. He felt gruff hands rip him off of the officer. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"I need to see him," Walter growled, spinning around wildly, searching for a door that might lead him to Mark Collins.

"Who?" Cabe sputtered.

"Collins!" Walter spat.

"That's not a good idea son. We ought to just get-"

"No!" Walter shrieked. "I need to see him." He frantically picked a door and ran at it.

Cabe blocked his path and the two men went tumbling down to the floor with the grace of an drunk Irish man on St. Patrick's day. Cabe got up quickly and seized Walter's collar before he could scramble to his feet.

"She's in a coma!" Walter screamed as Cabe dragged him out. "He tried to kill her! Now she's in a coma!" He ignored the blatant glaring and stares from the receptionist and officer as they exited the building.

Cabe finally managed to haul Walter into the van that he drove to the prison. He shoved him in a sat down beside him.

"You need to calm down." Cabe said.

"It should have been me." Walter said fiercely. "It should have been me. He wanted to kill me, not her. This is all my fault. I should be the one in a coma. I should be the one dying, not her."

Cabe gave Walter a minute to breathe deeply and soothe his anger before replying softly. "If it weren't for Paige, Walter, you wouldn't be in a coma, you'd be dead."

"It's not worth it." Walter spat angrily. His eyes flicked manically around as though the key to all his problems was cleverly hidden somewhere in the van.

"Collins probably would have killed Paige too." Cabe added. Walter glowered darkly at the ground, his jaw twitching. He quickly wiped some sweat from his forehead and refused to look and Cabe or reply to him.

"If Paige hadn't of tried to save you, there wouldn't have been a gunshot to snap you out of the rabbit hole." Cabe continued.

"It wasn't the gunshot that woke me up." Walter said bitterly. Thoughts about secrecy had dissipated when his hope for Paige had. "She kissed me. That's what woke me up. She kissed me before she went to try and stop Collins."

Cabe sat in silent shock. Paige kissing Walter...? For a moment the older man forgot the tension of her situation. He had felt something strange growing between Paige and Walter, but he had known Walter forever. Walter just wasn't built for love, or any kind of affection, really. The fact that Walter actually had finally experienced real romance was astonishing beyond words for Cabe. He felt bad for Walter; just when the opportunity of actually connecting with a girl presents itself, she slips into a coma.

"It doesn't matter though." Walter said, clearing his throat. "She won't be kissing me again."

"Walter..."

"In two weeks, there'll be a 97% chance that she never opens her eyes again."

The pair sat in silence for a moment. Cabe tried to conjure up something to say to Walter, but they both knew very well how little effect pep talks had on the genius. Cabe tried to discover a silver lining... but Walter was right. Things were really bad.

Cabe's mind went back to Walter's confession. If Paige really had so much power over Walter that a simple kiss could pull him out of the rabbit hole... no wonder Walter was so broken. Cabe realized he must be in love with the girl.

If Cabe wanted Walter to be more upbeat, he had to use that newfound information to instill more hope into Walter. He tried to think of what cheery thing Paige might say to comfort Walter. "It could be worse." Cabe finally said. This piqued Walter's interest, who laid his eyes on Cabe since the first time they had entered the van. "It could be a 98% chance."

Walter grunted, and Cabe rushed to continue, deciding to continue with his original idea to utilize Walter's feelings for Paige. "What would Paige say if she found out that you ran into a prison and tried to assault an officer?"

Walter looked to the ground, displaying a small amount of shame. "He grabbed me first."

Cabe took a second to gape at Walter. Did he look_ ashamed_? Walter O'Brien, ashamed and in love...? Cabe couldn't believe his eyes. But he knew he couldn't pause and potentially ruin the strategic conversation he had planned. "It doesn't matter. You were going to try to kill Collins, or God knows what. What do you think Paige would think of that?" Walter glared at his feet.

"And do you think Paige would want you to sit here and mope over her?" Cabe continued. "Or would she want you talking to Ralph, or sitting by her bed or literally doing anything other that pouting over not being able to beat the living hell out of a criminal?"

Walter sighed. "You think I should stop reacting."

"No, that's not my point. I get that this is awful. It could have gone worse, but it could have gone a lot better, too. And it's ok to be angry and upset. But you need to stop throwing tantrums like a child." Walter grunted in response. "Now, are you able to act like a decent human being so we can go, or do you need to continue this time-out?" Cabe asked with a grin.

Walter glowered darkly at the ground. "We can go." He muttered.

**/WEAKNESSES\\**

Walter and Cabe were striding up to the hospital silently when Drew burst out the doors and sprinted up to meet them. His face was cherry red and his eyes flamed with anger. Cabe looked to Walter uncertainly but Walter just watched Drew with hard eyes as he approached.

"Walter!" Drew called out. He stopped only feet away from him. "This is all your fault!" He fumed.

Cabe took a step away from the two, but stood cautiously on the side lines. Sylvester, Ralph, Toby and Happy jogged out of the hospital after him, all anxious to watch whatever drama was about to unfold.

Walter held his rigid posture and kept a stony expression. He knew that Drew had a lot to say, and arguing would only delay his outburst and therefore be inefficient.

Drew took Walter's silence as a welcoming to talk. "I told her not to stay in this job. I told her it was too dangerous for her and Ralph, and that it would be safer to come with me to Portland. But you pressured her into staying, an now look where she is."

"Pressured?" Walter demanded, eyes flaring.

Drew ignored him. "Because of this stupid job she was shot. Now she may never even wake up!" Drew screamed.

Sylvester swiftly dragged Ralph back into the hospital. "The job had nothing to do with this." Walter seethed.

"Oh yeah? Then why was she shot, in the middle of the night by an enemy of your company?" Drew challenged.

"This wasn't Scorpions fault." Walter sighed and closed his eyes for a moment. "It was mine."

Everyone's jaw dropped. Drew, Cabe, Happy and Toby all stared at Walter in undisguised shock and awe. It was a rare thing to see a Walter, the wielder of a 197 IQ, admit that he was at fault.

"Collins tricked me into falling down the rabbit hole." Walter explained guiltily. "He was angry at me for things I had done in the past. He lured everyone out of the garage, but didn't expect Paige to stay behind with me. She tried to protect me. That's why she was shot."

Drew took a minute to glare at Walter, processing his confession. "It should have been you." he hissed.

Walter nodded. "I wish it was me."

"It should have been you!" Drew screamed and lunged for Walter. Walter easily stepped out of the way. Drew's accuracy was faulty because of his rapidly increasing fury.

"I know, but I'm not going to fight you. There are bigger things going on here." Drew stared at Walter with concentrated hatred, his shoulders heaving as he panted. "Do you really want Ralph to see you attack someone? Don't you think he's struggling enough as it is?" Walter continued.

Drew's furious eyes did not waver, but he straightened himself up. His shoulders relaxed, making it clear that Walter was right.

Walter breathed heavily too, his eyes locked on Drew's. "Alright," Toby came up to Walter and grabbed his arm, eager to break up the uncomfortable stare down. "Let's go, lover boy."

As Walter and Toby made there way back to the building, Drew went rigid. Lover boy?

"Lover boy?" Drew repeated the words aloud. Walter and Toby froze. Toby winced to himself, quickly scorning himself for letting that slip in front of Drew. "I always thought you might have a thing for Paige, but wow." Drew smiled wickedly. He might not be able to physically harm Walter, but he had discovered a new way to seek revenge. "You are pretty naïve."

Walter spun around. It was his turn to be angry. "Naïve?" he demanded.

"Well, yeah." Drew said simply, chuckling to himself. "I mean, did you seriously think Paige would ever go for someone like you?"

Walter stared darkly at Drew, who continued giddily. "I mean, c'mon. It's pretty clear youve got some anti social stuff going on. You're nerdy, most likely unskilled and definitely not her type."

"Oh, so you think her type include idiotic, cocky jack-asses like-" Toby began yelling, but Walter curtly interrupted him. "Toby, don't. It's not worth it." He turned around and started walking back to the hospital, taking to heart what Cabe had said earlier about discontinuing his tantrums. He knew Paige would be disappointed if she knew that Drew's taunting could draw a rise out of him.

Drew was desperate to remain powerful over Walter. "Even if Paige made a miraculous recovery, what do you think it going to happen? Do you really think she'd stay with team that almost got her killed? Or would come with me to safety?" Walter stopped in his tracks for a second time, but not because anger had suddenly consumed him. He had been so concerned about Paige actually waking up he didn't even consider if she would be upset when she did.

Drew smiled again. "She's going to run right to me to go to Portland, where it's safe, and you'll never see her or Ralph again."

Walter gritted his teeth. Was Drew right? If Paige woke up, would she feel so unsafe she would take Ralph and leave the state? All Walter wanted to do was protect her and Ralph, but that seemed like the only thing he was incapable of doing.

"I told her she should have gone to Portland." Drew continued, slowly advancing closer and closer to Walter. "I told her that al of the weird jobs you guys do were going to end badly. She should have packed up as soon as Ralph got pulled in. But she was naïve... she thought Scorpion was good, and could help people. Paige has _always_ been so stupid about things like that. If only she wasn't so dumb."

Drew was to occupied with the pleasure Walter's discomfort was bringing him to notice Walter's fist clench. Anger swelled up inside him. He swivelled around and slammed his fist into Drew's eye in one fluid motion.

Drew fell to the ground clutching his face. "What the hell?!" He screeched.

Toby reacted in a completely opposite way. He jumped straight up in the air, whooping. "Yeah, Walter! You get him!" Happy whacked him in the stomach, shushing him with a disappointing look.

"She's_ not_ stupid." Walter sneered. Drew looked up at him, shocked that he could be so livid or punch so hard. "She's in a god damn coma. How _dare_ you talk about her that way." Walter stormed out of the parking lot.

Toby jogged out after him. Cabe stood watching Drew as blood dribbled out of a cut above his eye. He had to purse his lips a bit to prevent himself from cracking a smile. Drew looked around, still having difficulty processing what had just happened. He looked to Cabe and Happy for assistance. "Hey," Happy shrugged, pointing to the building. "At least the hospital's right there."

**/WEAKNESSES\**

"So..." Toby said after Walter finally cooled down. They had sat on a bench in the café for a few minutes silently while Walter willed his anger away. "Are you still going to deny you have feelings for Paige?"

Walter sighed, exasperated. Toby's persistence had grown increasingly irritating. "I don't have the capacity for 'feelings', Toby, you know that. Just because I'm experiencing a lift in EQ right now because of the rabbit hole doesn't change anything."

"Then what's your excuse for punching Drew in the face?" Toby questioned.

"He insulted Paige. I would have had the same reaction if he had called anyone on the team stupid."

Toby raised an eyebrow. "I haven't seen you that angry in a long time. I doubt if Drew had called _me _stupid you would have had an outburst like that."

"Paige is in a coma. It was disrespectful." Walter said simply, beginning to feel uncomfortably trapped.

"Since when do you give a damn about respect?" Toby demanded.

"Toby, when Sylvester got hurt I was equally as upset. Stop trying to turn this into something this isn't." Walter said firmly.

"Well, even if that is true, it doesn't explain why you were so upset when Drew told you that Paige was out of your league."

Walter frowned. "He never said that."

Toby raised his eyebrows. "That was basically a summary of what he had to say."

Walter stood up, suddenly furious again. "Who cares what he had to say? He's stupid for being concerned with useless stuff like what I feel for Paige when she's in a coma. We should be worried about _her_, Toby, not all of this EQ stuff."

Toby sighed and stood up. "You're right." He said. "But I am too."

**/WEAKNESSES\**

The rest of the team fell asleep in the waiting room outside of Paige's new room. Only one person was allowed to stay in Paige's room with her over night, and the team had silently agreed that Walter would be the one to stay.

Walter hated Paige's new room even more than the last one. The last one at least had a faded blue colouring adorning the walls, as well as a window. The new room was a grey box, revoltingly plain and depressing. The grey walls were the same colour as Paige's face, which had lost all colour over the past few hours. The only colour came from Walter's blue shirt and Paige's honey coloured hair.

Walter was lucky to have his team. They had left only a few hours ago to grab more food, money, clothes and toiletries. It was clear that their stay in the hospital had been extended. Walter didn't know how long they would be staying at the hospital. He didn't want to think about it.

Walter's watch read 10:32. He was the only one awake out of his friends. Drew had taken Ralph home at 7:30, incapable of looking anyone in the eye. It was impossible to notice the giant, purple-green bruise that decorated his left eye. No one asked Walter about it, but Toby had been snickering after Drew left.

Paige had one day and about 19 hours before her odds of waking up dropped to 10%. The gnawing seared Walter's insides, but he hardly cared about anything other than Paige. He clung onto her hand, desperately willing her to wake up. There was no science or math available to save her, so all he could do was pray until his head dropped down beside her waist and he drifted to sleep.

_She's in a coma! Congratulations to those of you who inferred that (I had a couple reviews guessing that she was comatose) you clearly caught onto the foreshadowing in the previous chapter._

_Poor Walter. He's so guilty, but he can hardly comprehend it... and Drew really doesn't help. I wanted to make him super annoying in this chapter because he hasn't been around much in Scorpion anymore, so I seized the opportunity to shape his character a bit more to make him more blatantly villainous._

_Anyways, please review! I appreciate and review all positive and constructive feedback I receive. All suggestions on how to make Weaknesses better are always welcome!_

_Thanks for reading!_


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